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MAY  1 1987 


Winter  1987 


The  Magazine  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum 


amoldia 


Volume  47  Number  1 Winter  1987 


Amoldia  (ISSN  0004-2633;  USPS  866-100)  is 
published  quarterly,  in  winter,  spring,  summer,  and 
fall,  by  the  Arnold  Arboretum  of  Harvard  University. 

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Amoldia 

The  Arnold  Arboretum 
Jamaica  Plain,  MA  02130-2795. 

Copyright  © 1987,  The  President  and  Fellows  of 
Harvard  College. 

Edmund  A.  Schofield,  Editor 

Peter  Del  Tredici,  Associate  Editor 

Helen  G.  Shea,  Subscriptions  Manager 

Marion  D.  Cahan,  Editorial  Assistant  (Volunteer) 

Jan  Brink,  Research  Assistant  (Volunteer) 

Amoldia  is  printed  by  the  Office  of  the  University 
Publisher,  Harvard  University. 


Front  cover:  A fruiting  branch  of  Ilex  opaca  Aiton. 
From  a glass  transparency  in  the  Archives  of  the  Ar- 
nold Arboretum.  ( See  page  2.)  Inside  front  cover: 
The  buttressed  trunk  of  a Metasequoia  glyptostro- 
boides  H.  H.  Hu  &.  Cheng  tree  growing  in  the  Bailey 
Arboretum,  Locust  Valley,  New  York  ("Bailey  1"). 
Photograph  by  John  E.  Kuser.  (See  page  14.)  Inside 
back  cover:  Ilex  pedunculosa  Miquel  growing  in  a 
schoolyard  in  Kamo,  Kyushu,  Japan.  This  photo- 
graph was  taken  on  March  4,  1914,  by  Ernest  H.  Wil- 
son. From  the  Archives  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum. 
(See  page  2.)  Back  cover:  Ilex  cornuta  'Burfordii',  a 
vigorous  holly  cultivar  and  one  of  the  parents  of  Ilex 
'Lydia  Morris'.  Photograph  by  Donald  Wyman.  (See 
page  12.) 


Page 

2 A Diversity  of  Hollies 
Polly  Hill 

14  RESEARCH  REPORT 

Clonal  and  Age  Differences  in  the 
Rooting  of  Metasequoia  glyptostioboides 
Cuttings 
John  E.  Kusei 

20  BOTANY:  THE  STATE  OF  THE  ART 
How  Development's  Clock  Guides 
Evolution 
John  W.  Einset 

26  BOOKS 


2 


Silva  of  North  America 


Tab.  XLV. 


f E.  Faxon.  del 


ILEX  OPACA.  A. 


A . Rii  icraux  . //  'rex  f. 


Imp.F.  Toneur,  Rarer 


A Diversity  of  Hollies 

Polly  Hill 


Decades  of  work  on  Martha's  Vineyard  have  yielded  valuable  insights  into 
the  hardiness  of  hollies — and  numerous  new  cultivars  as  well 


Hollies  ( Ilex  spp.)  have  long  been  popu- 
lar. During  the  festive  Christmas  season 
their  bright  berries  and  shiny,  prickly 
leaves  are  enjoyed  widely.  But  most  peo- 
ple are  unaware  of  the  great— and 
increasing — diversity  of  hollies  available 
for  a variety  of  landscape  situations. 

The  beauty  of  hollies  deserves 
more  than  passing  admiration.  In  fact, 
when  one  becomes  aware  of  their  varied 
charms,  holly  collecting  can  become  an 
addiction.  Their  flowers,  mostly  white, 
are  small,  inconspicuous,  and  sweetly 
scented  in  May,  when  most  species 
come  into  flower.  Their  leaves  have  an 
unlimited  variety.  Some  hollies  have 
spiny,  others  have  spineless,  leaves, 
while  still  others  have  both  spiny  and 
spineless  leaves.  The  leaves  may  be 
long  and  slender,  short  and  fat,  thin  or 
leathery,  round,  elliptic,  serrated  or 
entire,  quilted  or  smooth.  Their  fruits, 
borne  only  by  female  plants,  may  be  red, 
orange,  yellow,  black,  or  greenish  white 
to  pinkish  white.  Many  species  of  holly 
are  beautiful  for  their  branching,  which 
can  be  layered,  upright,  pendant,  or 
twiggy. 

The  hollies  I know  and  will  des- 


Flowering  and  Fruiting  Branches,  Flowers,  and 
Fruits  of  Ilex  opaca  Aiton.  Drawing  by  Charles  E. 
Faxon.  Originally  pubhshed  in  Charles  Sprague  Sar- 
gent's Silva  of  North  America  (Volume  1,  1891). 


cribe  grow  at  ''Barnard's  Inn  Farm,"  our 
summer  home  on  Martha's  Vineyard, 
Massachusetts,  an  island  situated  in  the 
Atlantic  Ocean,  south  of  Cape  Cod.  A 
few  of  the  hollies  are  native  to  the  Vine- 
yard and  the  adjacent  coastal  mainland, 
but  others  hail  from  Europe  or  Asia.  Only 
those  hardy  in  Zone  6 can  adapt  and  ma- 
ture, but  my  collection  has  grown  in  the 
last  twenty-five  years,  until  now  there  are 
upwards  of  one  hundred  thirty  taxa. 

The  soils  on  Martha's  Vineyard 
are  strongly  acid,  nutritionally  poor,  dry, 
and  sandy.  The  hollies  endure  gales  and 
temperatures  as  low  as  -10  F in  winter 
and  dry  soils  in  summer.  Greatly  in  their 
favor  are  the  humid  sea  air  and  the  per- 
fect soil  drainage. 


Hex  opaca 

To  the  average  Easterner,  the  word 
"holly"  suggests  Ilex  opaca  Aiton,  a tree 
native  from  eastern  Massachusetts  to 
Florida  and  west  to  Missouri  and  Texas. 
It  grows  wild  in  Delaware  and  Maryland 
near  our  home.  In  the  1930s  the  Farmers 
Market  in  downtown  Wilmington  provided 
us  with  sprays  for  Christmas  and  a hand- 
made wreath  for  our  front  door,  clusters 
of  live  berries  decorating  the  wreath. 
Now,  in  the  1980s,  one  can  spot  holly 
trees  along  the  highway,  but  the  large 


4 Hollies 


females  are  gone,  and  only  an  occasion- 
al male  will  be  left  undisturbed;  both  the 
holly  wreath  and  the  Farmers  Market  are 
of  the  past — spent. 

At  Barnard's  Inn  Farm,  I have  ob- 
served that  hollies  have  strong  healing 
powers  when  damaged.  For  example,  a 
six-  to  ten-inch-  (15-  to  25-cm-)  wide  band 
of  bark  that  had  been  eaten  by  baby  mice 
from  the  trunk  of  a four-  to  five-inch-  (10- 
to  13-cm-)  diameter  Ilex  opaca  tree  re- 
covered after  I heaped  damp  oak  leaves 
high  around  the  base  of  the  trunk,  and 
kept  them  damp.  Tiny  points  of  new  bark 
emerged  here  and  there,  until  the 
whole  was  renewed.  (To  discourage  a 


Close-up  of  the  Fruit  and  Leaves  of  Ilex  opaca  Al- 
ton, a Species  Native  to  the  East  Coast  of  the 
United  States.  Photograph  (taken  in  1899  by  Alfred 
Rehder)  from  the  Archives  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum. 


repetition,  we  built  a barn  owl  nest  in  our 
big  barn;  mice,  voles,  and  baby  rabbits 
are  now  kept  in  check  most  satisfactorily.) 

Cultivars  of  Ilex  opaca.  All  the 
wild  plants  I have  seen  on  Martha's  Vine- 
yard have  had  very  small  berries.  To  ob- 
tain garden-worthy  subjects,  I brought 
any  F!  or  F2  seedlings  that  had  self-sowed 
in  my  Delaware  garden  to  the  Barnard's 
Inn  Farm  nursery  for  trial.  The  first  selec- 
tion, made  in  1960,  was  named  'Martha's 
Vineyard'.  It  has  a formal  growth  habit, 
making  a tight  cone,  is  as  glossy  as  a 
member  of  the  species  can  be  glossy, 
and  has  very  large,  bright-red  fruit.  It  is 
hardy  and  fast-growing,  with  a strong  cen- 
tral leader.  Good  reports  of  the  clone's 
hardiness  have  reached  me  from  farther 
north  and  farther  inland. 

'Barnard  Luce'  is  named  for  a 
descendant  of  an  early  settler  of 
Martha's  Vineyard,  Henry  Luce,  and  the 
last  one  of  the  name  to  live  (about  a 
century  ago)  at  Barnard's  Inn  Farm.  Like 
'Martha's  Vineyard',  'Barnard  Luce'  is  a 
hardy,  glossy  "opaca,"  in  this  case  from 
Maryland.  It  is  more  open  and  informal 
in  habit  than  'Martha's  Vineyard'  and 
shows  off  its  bright-red  fruits  on  long  pe- 
duncles, resulting  in  a highly  visible  dis- 
play. My  several  trees  come  from  cut- 
tings taken  from  a tree  I discovered  on 
Maryland's  Eastern  Shore,  near  Barber. 
It  was  a female,  especially  selected  for 
its  high  gloss. 

Ilex  opaca  'Nelson  West'  is  a 
narrow-leaf  male  selection  whose  cuttings 
were  taken  from  a tree  in  shady  woods 
near  New  Lisbon,  New  Jersey.  It  is 
registered,  and,  though  found  in  1961,  the 
rooted  cuttings  have  only  grown  to  twelve- 
or  fifteen-foot  (3.5-  or  4.5-m)  trees.  This 
wild  plant  is  lacy,  dainty,  and  graceful  in 


Hollies  5 


appearance.  Narrow-leaf  forms  with  airy 
habit  are  seldom  seen  in  Ilex  opaca. 

A new  selection,  'Villanova',  regis- 
tered in  1984,  has  yellow  berries.  This 
was  a lucky  find  nurtured  from  a tiny  vol- 
unteer by  my  brother,  Howard  Butcher 
III,  at  his  home  in  Villanova,  Penn- 
sylvania. The  shiny  leaf  is  exceptionally 
broad,  almost  round.  The  berry  is  distin- 
guished by  its  rich,  deep-yellow  color  and 
its  spherical  shape.  The  plant  is  being 
tested  at  Barnard's  Inn  Farm. 

I raise  only  a few  of  the  many 
other  named  cultivars  in  existence.  Of 
those  few,  I rate  highest  'Jersey  Knight', 
a splendid  male,-  'Xanthocarpa',  a yellow- 
fruited  tree  from  Longwood  Gardens;  and 
'Miss  Helen',  a beautiful  selection  from 
McClean's  Nursery  in  Baltimore.  I am 
raising  about  fifteen  other  cultivars — "old 
timers"  and  newly  registered  plants — 
which  I will  evaluate  once  they  have 
grown  a while  longer. 

Ilex  opaca,  after  experiencing  the 
series  of  hurricanes  that  assaulted  the 
East  Coast  from  the  1930s  through  the 
1950s,  was  rated  second  in  salt  and  wind 
tolerance,-  Pinus  thunbergii,  the  Japa- 
nese black  pine,  was,  not  surprisingly, 
rated  first.  Now,  thirty  or  more  years 
later,  Pinus  thunbergii  is  out  of  favor  for 
planting  anywhere  because  the  pine  bark 
beetle  has  been  killing  it  by  the  hundreds. 
(Fifty  years  used  to  be  considered  the 
pine's  normal  life  span,  depressingly 
brief  for  people  who  love  and  want  to  pass 
on  trees  to  posterity.)  Ilex  opaca  has  thus 
become  the  first  choice  among  broad- 
leaved evergreens  for  permanent  seaside 
plantings. 

An  extraordinary  grove  of  Ilex  opa- 
ca growing  only  one  hundred  fifty  yards 
(135  m)  from  the  northern  shore  of  Mar- 
tha's Vineyard  illustrates  the  species's 


tolerance  to  coastal  conditions.  A low 
meadow  lies  behind  the  beach,  and  there 
the  old,  gnarled  trunks  of  the  hollies  rise 
vertically — branchless  for  about  eight  feet 
(2.5  m) — then,  making  a right-angled 
bend,  horizontally,  away  from  the  wind 
and  water.  At  the  tips  of  these  branches 
one  can  find  a few  holly  leaves  to  prove 
that  they  are  alive  and  growing.  The 
grove's  origin  is  obscure,  but  it  appears 
to  be  spontaneous.  Elsewhere  on  the 
Vineyard,  in  a spot  of  woods  sheltered 
from  high  winds,  there  is  a wild  tree  forty 
feet  (12.5  m)  in  height. 


Ilex  aquifolium 

Nowadays,  sprays  of  the  common  holly 
of  Britain  ( Ilex  aquifolium  Linnaeus) 
arrive  on  the  East  Coast  in  boxes 
airmailed  from  the  West  Coast,  where 
they  are  raised  in  the  splendid  nurseries 
of  Washington  and  Oregon.  The  leaves 
may  be  variegated  or  all  green;  in  either 
case  the  berries  are  red  and 
large — larger  than  those  of  Ilex  opaca. 
Zone  6 is  too  cold  for  many  cultivars  of 
Ilex  aquifolium,  but  I planted  the  seeds 
from  an  English  holly  wreath  from 
Brownell's  Holly  Farms  in  1970  and  now, 
fifteen  years  later,  I have  three  mature 
trees  flowering  in  an  open  field;  with  great 
luck,  two  are  female  and  one  male.  It  has 
taken  nearly  as  long  to  bring  to  flower 
well  rooted  plants  of  'Cottage  Queen'  and 
'Robert  Brown'  growing  in  two-gallon  con- 
tainers. Since  1972  they  have  grown  only 
to  about  four  feet  (1.2  m)  in  height  but  are 
at  last  flowering  in  a fully  established  site. 

A few  highly  rated,  named  culti- 
vars of  Ilex  aquifolium  are  growing  at 
Barnard's  Inn  Farm.  'Evangeline'  is  one 
of  some  fifty  seedlings  imported  from 


6 Hollies 


England  at  the  turn  of  the  century  to  orna- 
ment a waterfront  estate  in  Woods  Hole, 
Massachusetts.  My  plant,  grown  from  a 
1962  cutting  of  the  original  tree  and  now 
twelve  feet  (3.7  m)  tall  and  six  feet  (1.85 
m)  wide,  grows  in  full  sun,  its  lower 
branches,  only,  receiving  moderate  shel- 
ter from  the  wind.  As  a young  plant  it  re- 
ceived some  protection  towards  the  north- 
east from  a picket  fence.  'Evangeline'  pro- 
duces spectacular  fruits  that  turn  first  yel- 
low, then  orange,  and  finally  a showy 
orange-red.  Its  exceptionally  long  and 
wide,  tropical-looking  leaves  seem  out  of 
place  in  coastal  New  England. 


A Variant  Form  of  Ilex  aquifolium,  Linnaeus,  the 
Common  Holly  of  Britain.  Photograph  from  the 
Archives  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum. 


'Balkans'  was  given  to  me  in  1972 
by  the  late  Dr.  Henry  T.  Skinner  when  he 
was  director  of  the  United  States  National 
Arboretum.  Dr.  Skinner  described  it  to 
me  as  a plant  known  for  its  superior  cold- 
hardiness. It  now  measures  only  forty 
inches  (1  m)  by  thirty  inches  (76  cm)  after 
thirteen  years  of  growth  in  an  open  field, 
but  it  seems  firmly  established. 

'Tremough'  is  a clone  that  came 
from  England  about  1900.  A plant  of  it 
came  to  me  from  the  National  Arboretum 
in  a four-inch  pot.  Measuring  two  feet  (0.6 
m)  by  three  feet  (0.9  m),  it  is  destined  to 
reach  eighteen  feet  (5.5  m)  and  to 
become  broadly  conical. 

The  cultivar  'Ciliata  Major',  the 
gift  of  M.  M.  Brubaker  of  Pennsylvania, 
rooted  and  was  planted  out  in  a small  pot 
in  1965.  It  is  now  a massive  cone  about 
fifteen  feet  (4.5  m)  high  and  ten  feet  (3  m) 
across.  The  first  flowers,  which  appeared 
in  1981,  proved  to  be  male.  The  healthy 
rich,  glossy,  and  elegant  habit  is  splendid 
all  year  round.  'Ciliata  Major'  is  a con- 
spicuous landscape  subject. 

I may  be  able  to  upgrade  the 
other  clones  of  Ilex  aquifolium,  which  I 
have  rated  "B"  and  "C"  at  this  point, 
when  they  become  better  adapted. 

Ilex  crenata 

Of  the  sixteen  evergreen  species  I now 
am  raising,  Ilex  crenata  Thunberg,  from 
Japan,  is  one  of  the  most  successful.  The 
two  coin-leaf  selections  of  the  nummula- 
ria  group,  'Nakada'  (male)  and  'Mariesii' 
(female),  are  appealing,  slow-growing 
shrubs  suited  to  intimate  plantings. 
'Green  Dragon'  (male)  and  'Dwarf  Pago- 
da' (female),  also  of  the  nummularia 
group,  are  eye-catching  and  enchanting. 


Hollies  7 


Dr.  Tsuneshige  Rokujo  of  Tokyo 
sent  me  seeds  of  Ilex  crenata  'Convexa', 
from  whose  progeny  I selected  and 
named  the  cultivar  'Muffin'.  Planted  in 
1965,  it  was  registered  in  1977.  'Muffin' 
is  a dwarf  male  plant  that  was  first 
observed  in  flower  in  1978.  It  has  the 
same  landscape  niche  as  the  dwarf 
'Helleri',  but  it  has  proved  to  be  hardier 
than  'Helleri'  in  my  conditions,  and  it  has 
a finer  leaf  and  twiggier  habit  than 
'Helleri'. 

A plant  with  pale-yellow  berries 
and  a spreading  habit  is  Ilex  crenata  'Wa- 
tanabeanum'.  'Paludosa'  is  another  low 
spreader  from  the  National  Arboretum. 
Both  have  small  leaves  and  a twiggy  ha- 
bit, reaching  greater  width  than  height. 
The  cultivar  'Piccolo'  is  a tight,  round 
"bun,"  charming  by  itself  or  in  small  clus- 
ters. It  has  been  gratifying  that  mice,  rab- 
bits, and  deer  so  far  do  not  eat  these  low, 
easily  accessible  "crenata"  cultivars. 

Of  the  many  available  larger 
forms,  I have  been  attracted  to  'Excelsa' 
and  'Compacta',  among  others,  when 
their  healthy  vigor  and  easy  culture  re- 
commend their  use. 

The  species  Ilex  mutchagara  Mak- 
ino  could  very  easily  be  mistaken  for  Ilex 
crenata,  but  in  my  specimens  the  leaves 
are  larger  and  the  fruits  both  shinier  and 
larger  than  those  of  Ilex  crenata.  An  up- 
right-growing  plant,  it  is  hardy  and  useful 
in  the  landscape. 


Ilex  pedunculosa 

Picture  a bright-red  pea  hanging  on  a one- 
or  two-inch  (2.5-  to  5-  cm)  thread,  draped 
over  a shining,  unspined  leaf  two  to  three 
inches  (5  to  8 cm)  long.  Then  picture 
many  of  these  on  a graceful,  upright  tree 


that  can  grow  to  fifteen  feet  (4.5  m).  This 
is  Ilex  pedunculosa  Miquel,  the  long- 
stalked  holly  from  Japan.  The  growth  pat- 
tern of  its  branches  is  more  open  and  less 
twiggy  than  those  of  some  other  ever- 
green hollies.  The  different  clones  vary  in 
hardiness,  but  given  the  right  clone,  Ilex 
pedunculosa  is  a tree  for  every  small  or 
large  garden.  I find  it  charming  at  all  sea- 
sons. Like  other  hollies  it  can  easily  be 
pruned  to  make  it  fuller. 


Ilex  rugosa 

Another  species  from  Japan  is  Ilex 
rugosa  Schmidt.  It  is  seldom  seen  in 
gardens,  but  I have  found  it  completely 
hardy  at  Barnard's  Inn  Farm.  It  is 
prostrate  and  does  not  grow  fast,  but  the 
branches  spread  out  widely,  fountainlike, 
almost  weeping.  The  vcining  of  the 
wrinkled  leaves  is  conspicuous.  My  shrub 
from  Dr.  Rokujo,  planted  in  1964,  is  now 
about  five  feet  (1.5  m)  wide.  This  female 
plant  first  flowered  in  1971  after  seven 
years  and  can  now  be  covered  with  red 
berries — which  are  attractive  against  its 
flat-lying  leaves — when  I have  provided  a 
suitable  pollinator.  Since  my  male  plants 
are  too  young  to  flower,  I lay  branches  of 
my  best  male  Ilex  aquifolium  on  the 
female  Ilex  rugosa  while  they  are  both  in 
bloom.  My  reward  is  an  abundance  of 
clustered  red  fruit  on  a flat,  branching 
spray  of  Ilex  rugosa  leaves,  which  is  des- 
ignated Ilex  xmeserveae  S.-y.  Hu,  or  the 
blue  holly.  Other  "meserveae"  hybrids 
are  discussed  farther  along. 


Ilex  comuta 

Ilex  cornuta  Lindley  and  Paxton  has  not 


8 Hollies 


proved  hardy  on  Martha's  Vineyard.  I 
have  a few  plants  and  did  raise  some 
others  for  a short  period,  but  the  species 
is,  regrettably,  out  of  range  in  my  area. 

Ilex  ciliospinosa 

A small  tree-form  holly,  Ilex  ciliospinosa 
Loesener  grows  to  twenty  feet  (6  m).  It 
has  rather  dull,  leathery  leaves  that  are 
narrow  and  serrated.  It  is  entirely  hardy 
and  grows  more  compact  in  full  sun.  If 
grown  in  shade,  it  becomes  thin  and  un- 
gainly, although  it  will  respond  to  prun- 
ing. In  my  experience,  the  berries, 


Fruit  and  Leaves  of  Ilex  ciliospinosa  Loesener,  a 
compact,  evergreen  shrub  or  small  tree  that  attains 
some  twenty  feet  (6  m)  in  height. 


though  bright  red,  are  too  few  and  too 
smelly  to  compete  for  display  with  many 
other  species. 

Ilex  glabra 

The  shining  inkberry,  Ilex  glabra  (Linnae- 
us) Asa  Gray,  is  the  other  evergreen  hol- 
ly native  to  Martha's  Vineyard.  It  is  wide- 
spread throughout  the  East  Coast  of  the 
United  States,  growing  naturally  in  moist 
woods  but  developing  best  and  fruiting 
more  heavily  in  sun.  For  the  most  part  my 
soils  are  too  dry,  but  there  are  some  hand- 
some plants  to  be  seen  in  sunshine.  The 
leaves  of  Ilex  glabra  are  spineless,  nar- 
row, and  two  inches  (5  cm)  long.  Since 
coming  on  the  market,  the  dwarf  form 
'Compacta'  has  become  a commonly 
used,  dependable  plant  for  public  areas. 
It  can  be  sheared  to  advantage,  to  make 
barrier  hedges  or  thickets.  There  are 
nearly  white-berried  forms.  Unsheared 
(by  hand  or  by  the  wind),  it  can  reach  ten 
feet  (3  m)  and  is  slowly  stoloniferous.  Ink- 
berry  is  a handsome  and  desirable  na- 
tive, adaptable  and  easy  to  maintain. 

Deciduous  Species 

The  more  I have  worked  with  hollies  the 
more  I have  come  to  appreciate  the 
charming  species,  hybrids,  and  numer- 
ous cultivars  that  drop  their  leaves  in  win- 
ter. The  protracted  fall  weather  that  last- 
ed well  into  January  of  1985  was  the  per- 
fect climate  for  them.  They  made  a brilli- 
ant, graceful,  and  natural-looking  show  in 
formal  settings  around  public  buildings, 
on  sloping  hillsides,  and  in  island  group- 
ings along  garden  paths.  The  different 
shades  of  orange-reds  and  saturated 


Hollies  9 


deep  reds,  when  mixed,  set  each  other 
off,  adding  sparkle  to  the  whole. 

There  are  six  deciduous  species 
of  holly  in  my  garden.  Birds  love  them. 
One  autumn  evening  five  robins  so 
gorged  themselves  with  the  fermenting 
fruit  of  Ilex  verticillata  that  their  eyes 
seemed  to  bulge,  and  they  could  barely 
move.  The  same  autumn,  a nurseryman 
told  me  that  his  shrubs  were  so  heavy 
with  berries  that  he  had  to  tie  the  fruiting 
branches  together  to  prevent  them  from 
breaking. 

'Sparkleberry',  a cultivar  devel- 
oped at  the  National  Arboretum  and  regis- 
tered in  1972,  typifies  the  group.  It  is  a 
hybrid  of  Ilex  serrata  Thunberg  and  Ilex 
verticillata  Linnaeus  (Asa  Gray),  'Apollo' 
being  the  male  of  the  same  cross.  Forced 
to  restrict  myself  to  a single  pair  of  de- 
ciduous hollies,  I would  choose  this  pair. 


Ilex  ambigua  var.  montana 

Ilex  ambigua  (Michaux)  Torrey  var.  mon- 
tana (Torrey  and  Gray),  or  Ilex  montana , 
as  it  used  to  be  called,  is  a slender  tree 
with  long,  thin,  pale-green  leaves.  Grow- 
ing on  an  exposed  mountainside,  it  can 
appear  dense  and  distinguished.  My 
seed  came  from  such  a location.  But  in 
the  shelter  of  my  lowland  garden  the  tree 
is  thin  and  angular.  Since  I have  only  one 
blooming  male  and  one  immature  seed- 
ling, I am  loath  to  evaluate  the  species. 
This  eastern  holly,  whose  taxonomy  is 
still  unstable,  may  well  have  developed 
different  habits  as  ways  of  adapting  to  the 
diverse  environments  in  its  range. 

Ilex  amelanchier 

Known  in  the  South  as  the  swamp  holly, 


C 


The  Deciduous  Hollies  Ilex  serrata  (top)  and  Ilex 
verticillata,  the  Parents  of  Cultivars  'Sparkleberry' 
( female ) and  ‘Apollo’  (male).  These  two  cultivars 
were  developed  at  the  National  Arboretum,  Washing- 
ton, D.C.  Photograph  from  the  Archives  of  the  Ar- 
nold Arboretum. 

Ilex  amelanchier  M.  A.  Curtis  is  not  very 
hardy  in  Martha's  Vineyard's  portion  of 
Zone  6.1  have  been  particularly  attracted 
to  its  long-peduncled,  red  velvet  berries 
that  are  very  beautiful  for  a wildling.  My 
seeds  came  from  the  Henry  Foundation 
in  1970.  So  far,  my  seven  plants  have  not 
flowered  in  the  shady  spot  I picked  for 
them.  They  grow  at  the  edge  of  woods, 


10  Hollies 


where  it  is  dry,  and  only  with  morning 
sun.  Regrettably,  I cannot  offer  them  their 
preference  of  a swamp  at  Barnard's  Inn 
Farm. 


Ilex  decidua 

The  species  Ilex  decidua  Walter,  com- 
monly known  as  possum  haw,  is  a fine 
holly  now  and  has  an  increasingly  promis- 
ing future  as  more  and  more  new  culti- 
vars  are  introduced.  My  first  plant  trials 
were  from  Alabama  seed  kindly  supplied 
by  Mr.  Tom  Dodd.  Most  of  them  germi- 
nated, but  they  had  a long,  downhill  his- 
tory of  growth  in  summer  and  dieback  in 
winter.  Sadly,  they  were  eliminated,  but 
not  until  I had  obtained  hardier  clones 
from  Mr.  Bon  Hartline  of  Anna,  Illinois. 
These  Midwestern  cultivars,  which  are 
slowly  maturing  in  our  garden,  are  'Coun- 
cil Fire',  'Pocahontas',  'Sundance',  and 
'Warren's  Red'.  I have  seen  their  fruits  as 
grown  in  Illinois,  and  one  could  want  noth- 
ing finer.  I found  that  they  could  be  polli- 
nated by  males  of  Ilex  opaca,  which 
bloom  at  the  same  time.  The  fruits  of  Ilex 
decidua  last  well  into  the  winter,  offering 
food  to  wildlife  after  most  other  holly  ber- 
ries have  been  taken. 


Ilex  laevigata 

The  smooth  winterberry,  as  Ilex  laevigata 
(Pursh)  Asa  Gray  is  called,  is  native  from 
Maine  to  Georgia  and  is  entirely  hardy 
with  me.  I have  never  yet  found  the  se- 
cret of  germinating  its  seeds,  although  I 
have  tried  various  methods  over  many 
years.  One  plant  was  given  to  me  by  Mr. 
Hal  Bruce  of  Delaware.  The  first  year  it 
produced  a single  berry,  which  made  me 


conclude  that  it  was  a female,-  last  year, 
however,  it  had  an  abundance  of  male 
flowers.  This  interesting  plant  is  actually 
quite  similar  to  Ilex  verticillata  and  grows 
in  the  same  habitats  in  which  it  does, 
though  I have  failed  to  find  it  growing  wild 
on  Martha's  Vineyard.  Ilex  laevigata  has 
had  an  evolutionary  history  similar  to  that 
of  Ilex  verticillata  but,  Dr.  Shiu-ying  Hu 
of  the  Arnold  Arboretum  assures  me, 
does  not  hybridize  with  it. 


Fruiting  Branch  of  Ilex  laevigata  (Pursh)  Asa  Gray, 
the  Smooth  Winterberry.  Photographed  in  1902  by 
Alfred  Rehder.  From  the  Archives  of  the  Arnold 
Arboretum. 


Hollies  1 1 


Ilex  serrata 

To  my  eye,  the  Japanese  winterberry, 
Ilex  serrata  Thunberg,  is  a special  trea- 
sure. The  horizontal  branches  are  charac- 
teristic of  its  mature  form.  In  a class  with 
Acer  palmatum  when  it  comes  to  graceful 
growth  habit,  it  may  be  even  better  known 
for  the  great  abundance  of  rather  small, 
red,  clustered  fruits,  which  last  for  many 
weeks  in  the  garden.  A grouping  of  three 
or  four  females  with  a male  makes  a love- 
ly island  of  sparkle  in  a semishaded  cor- 
ner. The  bushes  are  five  to  six  feet  (1.5  to 
2 m)  tall  and  rather  open,  the  better  to  dis- 
play their  natural  form. 

Ilex  verticillata 

Black  alder,  as  the  native  species  Ilex 
verticillata  (Linnaeus)  Asa  Gray  is  called 
on  Martha's  Vineyard,  or  winterberry,  is 
the  easiest  to  cultivate  and  the  most 
readily  available  deciduous  species.  It  is 
stoloniferous  in  wet  or  dry  soils,  fast 
growing,  tough,  and  showy.  Perhaps  the 
finest  display  of  winterberry  on  the  Vine- 
yard grows  on  the  verges  of  Mill  Stream, 
in  West  Tisbury.  A single  clone  has  grad- 
ually spread  by  hundreds  of  stolons  to 
make  a solid  dome  a good  twenty  feet  (6 
m)  in  diameter.  At  the  peak  of  its  berry 
color,  after  the  leaves  have  fallen  in  No- 
vember, it  rivals  a bonfire  for  brilliance. 

By  comparison  with  native  New 
Jersey  seedlings,  the  Vineyard  strain  of 
Ilex  verticillata  is  a "good  doer."  I have 
named  five  clones  of  it:  'Bright  Horizon', 
'Earlibright',  and  three  others  with  local 
Indian  names — 'Quitsa'  (a  place-name); 
'Tiasquam'  (the  name  of  the  island's  only 
river);  and  'Quansoo'  (the  name  of  a swim- 
ming beach,  our  favorite),  a male  plant 


that  grew  spontaneously  on  the  edge  of 
our  woods.  They  differ  in  details  but  not 
in  quality  or  dependability.  The  name 
'Bright  Horizon'  reflects  the  impact  that 
our  many  stands  of  winterberry  dotted 
along  the  gentle  hills  of  Martha's  Vine- 
yard, seen  against  the  sky,  have  on  the 
viewer.  The  fruits  of  'Earlibright'  are  light- 
er and  more  orange-red  than  those  of 
'Bright  Horizon'. 

In  addition  to  these  cultivars,  I 
am  raising  cultivars  of  Ilex  verticillata  de- 
veloped by  others:  'After  Glow',  'Autumn 
Glow',  'Harvest  Red',  'Maryland  Beauty', 
and  'Winter  Red'.  In  addition,  there  are 
the  cultivars  'Raritan  Red',  a male,  and 
'Red  Sprite',  a dwarf.  Until  they  reach 
maturity  I can  only  admire  them  all  for 
the  differing  shades  of  red  and  orange  of 
their  fruits — their  lavish  gifts  of  autumn 
and  winter  display— and  eagerly  wait  for 
them  to  mature. 

There  are  yellow-berried  forms, 
white-berried  forms,  and  variegated-leaf 
forms  of  Ilex  verticillata,  in  addition  to 
these  green-leaved  forms  with  red  fruits. 
The  search  for  special  wild  forms  of  Ilex 
verticillata  has  barely  begun,  as  has  the 
breeding  of  new  and  better  hybrids. 

The  female  clones  were  all 
selected  from  seedlings  raised  from  the 
fruit  of  a single  wild  plant  still  growing  in 
a nearby  field.  I collected  the  seeds  in 
1958,  stratified  them  for  a year  by 
hanging  them  in  a barn,  in  a plastic  bag 
of  damp  sphagnum  moss.  They  germinat- 
ed in  1960,  and  in  1961  I spaced  twenty 
of  them  out  in  my  nursery.  The  first 
females  to  bloom  were  planted  out  in 
1963.  Since  Ilex  verticillata  is  a highly 
stoloniferous  species,  those  that  were 
planted  too  close  together  are  indistin- 
guishable from  each  other  when  they  are 
not  in  fruit.  They  form  a solid  hedge  that 


1 2 Hollies 


is  as  care-free  as  any  I know.  Their  only 
pest  is  a leaf  tier  that  blackens  and 
shrivels  the  leaves  on  the  tips  of  the 
branchlets.  Fortunately,  the  leaf  tier  does 
not  detract  from  the  berry  display  after 
the  leaves  have  fallen. 


Some  Successful  Hybrids 

Of  the  thirty  or  more  named  hybrids  I am 
testing,  I will  name  a few  that  have 
adapted  well  to  the  conditions  on 
Martha's  Vineyard.  They  have  already 
survived  two  or  three  winters  in  the  field. 

For  elegance  and  superior  quality 
of  foliage  I would  name  a group  of  five 
siblings  resulting  from  the  cross  of  Ilex 
coinuta  'Burfordii  #10'  by  Ilex  latifolia 
Thunberg.  Neither  parent  is  hardy  in 
Zone  6,  but  the  foliage  of  the  cross  is  so 
handsome  that  I am  trying  to  keep  my 
plants  growing.  Wind  shelter  is  important. 
'Amy  Joel'  and  'Mary  Nell'  are  female 
clones.  Another  clone  came  from  Mr. 
Bon  Fiartline  by  way  of  the  late  Dr. 
Joseph  McDaniel;  I believe  there  are  two 
others.  Dr.  McDaniel  made  the  cross  in 
Mr.  Tom  Dodd's  Nursery  in  Alabama. 

'Clusterberry'  is  a three-way 
cross  of  Ilex  aquifolium  by  Ilex  coinuta 
by  Ilex  leucoclada  (Maximowicz)  Maki- 
no.  A female  from  the  National  Arbore- 
tum, it  is  still  only  two  feet  by  three  feet 
(0.6  m by  0.9  m).  It  is  showing  itself  to  be 
a first-rate  cultivar.  'September  Gem' 
[Ilex  ciliospinosa  X Ilex  Xaquipemyi 
Gable  ex  W.  Clarke)  is  another  good  fe- 
male from  the  National  Arboretum. 

'Lydia  Morris'  [Ilex  coinuta  'Bur- 
fordii' X Ilex  peinyi  Franchet)  was 
registered  by  the  late  Dr.  Henry  T.  Skin- 
ner in  1961.  An  early  success,  it  has  led 
the  field  of  hybridizers.  There  is  a 'John 


Morris'  pollinator. 

'Shin  Nien'  ( Ilex  opaca  X Ilex 
coinuta ) is  a fine  male  registered  by  Dr. 
Joseph  McDaniel  of  Urbana,  Illinois. 

There  is  even  a four-way  hybrid, 
produced  by  Dr.  Elwyn  Orton  of  Rutgers 
University,  called  'Rock  Garden'  ( Ilex 
Xaquipeinyi  X [Ilex  integia  X Ilex  pei- 
nyi]). It  has  the  elegance  of  a tight  dwarf, 
with  stylish  foliage,  and  is  a top-quality  or- 
namental. 

The  blue  hollies  (hybrids  of  Ilex 
Xmeserveae ) are  achieving  wide  and  de- 
served popularity.  I lost  the  cultivar  'Blue 
Boy'  to  cold  but  have  four  others — 'Blue 
Princess',  'Blue  Girl',  'Blue  Prince',  and 
'Blue  Stallion' — all  of  them  hardy,  hand- 
some, and  desirable. 

Many  variegated  plants  of  differ- 
ing genetic  background  have  grown  poor- 
ly in  my  conditions,  but  I do  have  two 
plants  of  'Sunny  Foster'  ( Ilex  cassine  Lin- 
naeus X Ilex  opaca  or  Ilex  cassine  X Ilex 
Xattenuata  Ashe).  The  more  sun  it  gets 
the  more  gold  there  is  in  its  leaves;  the 
more  shade,  the  more  growth  it  makes. 
Ilex  cassine  is,  of  course,  tender  on  Mar- 
tha's Vineyard,  but  the  hybrid  is  most  at- 
tractive. I hope  it  survives  and  adapts. 

There  is  a three-way  chance 
hybrid  that  I have  registered  as  'Pernella' 
(presumably  [Ilex  coinuta  X Ilex  peinyi]  X 
Ilex  aquifolium).  The  plant  has  large, 
spherical  red  berries,  enormous  vigor 
and  health,  with  a strong  central  leader 
and  a good  rate  of  growth.  J.  Franklin 
Styer  Nursery  is  propagating  it. 

Exploring  the  Great  Diversity  of  Hollies 

Readers  intrigued  by  the  growing  diver- 
sity within  the  genus  Ilex  may  wish  to  join 
the  Holly  Society  of  America  (304  North 


Hollies  13 


Wind  Road,  Baltimore,  Maryland  21204). 
Through  the  Society,  its  publications  and 
conventions,  they  will  learn  much  about 
hollies  and  will  be  able  to  join  in  the  acti- 
vities of  its  members. 

In  Belgium,  there  is  a new  arbore- 
tum, Domein  Bokrijk,  where  as  large  a 
collection  of  hollies  as  possible  is  being 
amassed.  There  is  another,  in  Korea, 
whose  name,  Chollipo,  means  holly.  Its 
owner,  Mr.  Carl  Ferris  Miller,  is  already 
responsible  for  some  choice  introduc- 
tions. 

If  one  needed  still  newer  hollies 
to  augment  the  diverse  species  now  in 
cultivation,  he  could  turn  explorer.  He 
might  begin  with  eastern  South  Amer- 
ica— Brazil — the  center  of  distribution  of 
Ilex,  then  proceed  to  the  islands  of  Poly- 
nesia, to  Taiwan,  China,  the  Canary  Is- 
lands, or  even  the  wooded  coastal  zones 
of  the  eastern  United  States.  In  these 
places  and  many  more  there  are  hollies 
waiting  to  be  found,  propagated,  named, 
distributed,  and  enjoyed. 


Select  Bibliography 

W.  Dallimore.  Holly,  Yew,  and  Box.  London  and 
New  York:  John  Lane,  1908.  xiv  + 
284  pages. 

G.  K.  Eisenbeiss.  Bibliography  of  introduced  Ilex  spe- 

cies and  their  infraspecific  ranks. 
Holly  Society  Journal,  Volume  2, 
Number  2,  pages  1 to  7 (1984). 

. Some  holly  [Ilex]  in  cultivation.  Aiboricul- 

tural  Journal,  Volume  7,  Number 
3,  pages  201  to  210  (1983). 

. and  T.  R.  Dudley.  International  Check- 
list of  Cultivated  Ilex,  Part  I. 
Ilex  opaca.  National  Arboretum 
Contribution  No.  3.  Washington, 
D.  C.:  Agricultural  Research  Ser- 
vice, United  States  Department  of 
Agriculture,  1973.  85  pages. 

D.  E.  Hansell,  T.  R.  Dudley,  and  G.  K.  Eisenbeiss, 
editors.  Handbook  of  Hollies:  A 
Special  Issue  on  Ilex.  American 
Horticultural  Magazine,  Volume 
49,  Number  4,  pages  150  to  331 
(1970). 

Shiu-ying  Hu.  Letter  of  2 November  1978  in:  T.  R. 

Dudley,  A Martha's  Vineyard 
mystery  solved.  Holly  Society  of 
America.  Proceedings  of  the  55th 
Meeting,  pages  26  to  27  (1978?). 
Page  27. 

H.  Harold  Hume.  Hollies.  New  York:  The  Macmillan 

Company,  1953.  xi  + 242  pages. 


Polly  Hill  (Mrs.  Julian  W.  Hill)  resides  in  Delaware 
during  the  winter  and  on  Martha's  Vineyard, 
Massachusetts,  during  the  summer,  where  she 
maintains  a renowned  collection  of  hollies. 


RESEARCH  REPORT 


Clonal  and  Age  Differences  in  the  Rooting  of 
Metasequoia  glyptostroboides  Cuttings 

John  E.  Kuser 

As  with  many  other  tree  species,  the  rooting  of  a softwood  Metasequoia 
cutting  depends  upon  the  source  and  age  of  the  cutting  used 


There  are  large  differences  in  rootability 
among  the  clones  of  many  tree  species,- 
the  differences  are  especially  strong  in 
older  individuals.  A further  problem  with 
rooting  cuttings  is  their  dependency  on 
age.  Young  trees  will  often  root  readily, 
but  the  same  trees  may  be  almost  impos- 
sible to  root  when  they  become  older 
(Zobel  and  Talbert,  1984). 

For  the  first  few  years  after  Meta- 
sequoia was  introduced  to  the  West  in 
1948  seed  was  nonexistent,  scarce,  or 
sterile.  Vegetative  propagation  was  easy 
by  either  softwood  cuttings  (Creech, 
1948;  Hasegawa,  1951)  or  hardwood 
cuttings  (Enright,  1958;  Connor,  1985). 
As  the  original  trees  became  more 
mature  they  bore  fertile  seed  more  often 
(Hamilton,  1984)  but  appeared  to  require 
cross-pollination  for  good  yields  (Kuser, 

1983) .  At  the  same  time,  vegetative  propa- 
gation became  more  difficult  (Hamilton, 

1984) . 

I became  curious  about  rooting 
softwood  cuttings,  a supposedly  easy  task 
which  I had  sometimes  found  not  so 


easy.  I decided  to  compare  rootability  of 
different  clones  and  also  to  compare  the 
rootability  of  lower-crown  cuttings  from 
(1)  thirty-seven-year-old  trees,  (2)  three- 
year-old  seedlings,  and  (3)  three-year-old 
cutting-grown  trees  of  the  same  clones  as 

U). 


Materials  and  Methods 

On  June  24,  1982,  I took  ten  cuttings 
each  from  easily  reached  branches  in  the 
lower  crowns  of  three  large  trees:  (1)  the 
tree  at  Prospect  Hall  on  the  campus  of 
Princeton  University  ("Prospect"),  (2)  the 
Western  world's  largest  Metasequoia 
tree,  at  the  Bailey  Arboretum  ("Bailey 
1"),  and  (3)  a tall  tree  in  the  Bailey 
Arboretum,  near  the  Feeks  Road  fence 
("Bailey  9").  I wounded  one  side  of  the 
bases,  dusted  them  with  Hormodin  2®, 
and  stuck  them  in  peat-vermiculite  under 
mist  (five  seconds  every  thirty  seconds) 
and  light  Saran®  shadecloth,  in  a green- 
house propagation  room  at  Cook 


Metasequoia  15 


College,  New  Brunswick,  New  Jersey. 

I repeated  the  experiment  three 
times  in  1983  (on  June  1,  June  23,  and 
July  12)  with  ten  cuttings  of  each  clone 
on  each  date,  following  exactly  the  same 
procedure  as  in  the  year  before.  I added 
three  more  clones  of  thirty-seven-year-old 
trees  in  the  Broadmead  grove  at 
Princeton,  New  Jersey  ("Clark  1,"  "Clark 
2,"  and  "Clark  3"). 

In  1985  I repeated  the  experi- 
ment again,  with  ten  cuttings  of  each 
clone,  from  June  27 — July  3.  I omitted 
"Clark  2"  and  "Clark  3,"  but  added  six 
new  trees:  a two-meter  tree  grown  from  a 
cutting  of  "Prospect"  in  1982  ("Prospect 


cutting"),  a three-meter  1981  seedling  of 
"Prospect"  ("Prospect  seedling"),  a three- 
meter  1981  seedling  of  "Clark  1"  ("Clark 
1 seedling"),  a three-meter  1982  cutting 
of  "Bailey  9"  ("Bailey  9 cutting"),  and  a 
three-meter  1982  cutting  of  "Bailey  9" 
("Bailey  9 cutting").  I followed  the  same 
procedure  I had  in  1982  and  1983.  Not- 
ing top  dieback  among  the  cuttings  within 
a week,  I suspected  that  high  tempera- 
tures on  bright  days  in  the  propagation 
room  were  causing  desiccation  in  spite  of 
the  mist.  So  I made  a cooled  propagation 
bed  in  another  part  of  the  greenhouse, 
using  light  Saran®  shade  and  mist  (thirty 
seconds  every  seven  and  one-half 


The  Metasequoia  glyptostroboides  Tree  in  the  Bai- 
ley Arboretum  from  Which  the  "Bailey  1”  Cuttings 
Were  Taken.  This  and  all  other  photographs  accom- 
panying this  article  were  taken  by  the  author. 


The  Broadmead  Grove  in  Princeton,  New  Jersey, 
Where  the  “Clark  1,”  "Clark  2,”  and  "Clark  3" 
Clones  Were  Obtained  from  Thirty-seven-Year-Old 
Trees  for  Use  in  the  Experiments  Performed  in  1983. 


16  Metasequoia 


minutes)  over  a bed  immediately  adja- 
cent to  evaporator  pads  along  the  north 
wall.  With  exhaust  fans  running  during 
daylight  hours,  I monitored  temperatures 
twenty-five  centimeters  above  this  bed. 
On  bright  days  when  the  propagation 
room  reached  39  C,  the  cooled  bed's 
maximum  temperature  was  28  C. 

On  July  23  and  24,  I replicated 
the  June  27 — July  3 series  of  cuttings  and 
stuck  them  in  the  cooled  bed.  After 
observing  that  the  second  group  of 
cuttings  stayed  fresh  and  healthy  for  a 
week,  I moved  the  first  group  to  the 
cooled  bed  on  July  30. 


Results 

On  August  9,  1982,  the  following  num- 
bers of  cuttings  had  rooted:  "Prospect,"  3 
of  20;  "Bailey  1,"  10  of  10;  "Bailey  9,"  8 
of  10.  In  1983,  scarcely  any  cuttings 
rooted;  there  was  much  top  dieback  in 
spite  of  the  mist,  and  by  October  1,  only 
1 "Bailey  9,"  1 "Clark  1,"  and  1 "Clark 
3"  (all  stuck  on  different  dates)  had 
rooted.  The  difficulty  appeared  to  be  due 
to  high  temperatures  caused  by  many 
bright  days  during  June  and  July  of  that 
year. 

On  October  1,  1985,  I counted 
rooted  cuttings  of  both  the  June  27 — July 


The  Lower  Pan  of  the  Stem  of  a Ten-Month-Old 
Seedling  of  Metasequoia  glyptostroboides  Growing 
in  a Two-Gallon  Container. 


The  Lower  Pan  of  the  Stem  of  a Fifteen- Month-Old 
Rooted  Cutting  of  Metasequoia  glyptostroboides. 
See  Table  1 (page  17)  for  the  results  of  this  and  the 
other  experiments  described  in  this  report. 


Metasequoia  17 


Table  1 . Rooting  of  Softwood  Cuttings  Taken  from  Different  Clones  of 
Metasequoia  glyptostroboides 

Number  of  cuttings  that  had  rooted  by  1 October  1985  out  of  a total  of  10  cuttings 
originally  stuck  on  the  dates  indicated. 


Those  Stuck  Those  Stuck 


Clone 

Source  of  Cutting 

26  June— 3 July 

23-24  July 

'Prospect' 

Mature  tree 

3 

0 

'Prospect' 

2-m  cutting 

2 

2 

'Prospect' 

3-m  seedling 

4 

10 

'Clark  1' 

Mature  tree 

10 

3 

Clark  1 " 

3-m  seedling 

10 

8 

Bailey  1 " 

Mature  tree 

10 

5 

'Bailey  1' 

3-m  cutting 

10 

3 

Bailey  9" 

Mature  tree 

10 

8 

Bailey  9' 

3-m  cutting 

10 

6 

Bailey  9" 

3-m  seedling 

10 

8 

A Five-Year-Old  Seedling  of  the  "Clark  1"  Clone 
Growing  on  the  Author’s  Lawn.  The  tree  is  about 
twelve  feet  (3.7  m)  in  height. 


A Five-Year-Old  Rooted  Cutting  of  "Bailey  1" 
Growing  on  the  Author's  Lawn.  Like  the  "Clark  1 " 
Seedling  (left),  it  is  about  twelve  feet  (3. 7 m)  tall. 


18  Metasequoia 


3 group  and  the  July  23 — 24  group  (Table 
1).  Those  of  the  second  group  had 
retained  all  their  foliage,  appeared  lush 
and  vigorous,  and  most  often  had  more 
roots. 


Discussion 

The  same  clonal  differences  were  evident 
in  1982  and  1985.  The  two  large  trees  of 
"Bailey  1"  and  "Bailey  9"  have  not  lost 
rootability,  while  "Prospect"  is  more 
difficult  to  root.  There  is  no  difference  in 
rootability  between  mature  trees  of  any 
clone  tested  and  young  cutting-grown 
trees  of  the  same  clones,-  apparently,  no 
rejuvenation  of  these  clones  occurred  in 
one  cycle  of  rooted  cuttings  from  mature 
trees  and  then  taking  cuttings  of  these. 
This  conclusion  agrees  with  my  field 
observation  that  trees  grown  from  cuttings 
of  mature  trees  are  much  less  branchy 
and  have  less  taper  than  seedlings.  One 
might  expect  that,  if  rejuvenation  had  oc- 
curred, the  trees  would  grow  with  seed- 


Two  Ten-Month-Old  Seedlings  (left)  and  Two  Fifteen- 
Month-Old  Rooted  Cuttings  Growing  Outside  the 
Greenhouse  on  November  7,  1 986. 


ling  form.  Rejuvenation  may  still  occur 
after  repeated  cycles,  or  it  may  not.  The 
difference  in  rootability  of  "Prospect  seed- 
ling" and  "Clark  1 seedling"  compared 
to  their  respective  parents.  Unfortunately, 
I have  no  data  on  rootability  of  the  parent 
trees  when  they  were  young,-  however, 
Mr.  Jim  Clark  of  Princeton  and  Mr.  Dick 
Walters  of  Maplewood  grew  many  trees 
of  "Prospect"  from  softwood  cuttings  in 
the  1950s,  and  they  say  (personal  commu- 
nications) that  their  rooting  success  rates 
were  fifty  percent  to  seventy-five  percent. 

Avoidance  of  high  temperatures  is 
important  in  rooting  softwood  cuttings  of 
Metasequoia  during  summer.  This  may 
be  not  only  a matter  of  preventing  desic- 
cation, but  of  greater  photosynthetic  effici- 
ency at  lower  temperatures.  In  1960, 
Konoe  reported  that  at  20  C,  Metase- 
quoia grew  faster  than  Taxodium,  while 
at  30  C the  reverse  was  true;  and  in  my 
experiment  last  summer  I noted  that, 
while  Metasequoia  rooted  better  in  the 
cooled  bed  than  in  the  hot  propagation 
room,  the  reverse  was  true  of  pitch  pine 
( Pinus  ligida)  stump  sprouts. 

In  1982,  temperatures  in  the  pro- 
pagation room  may  have  been  cooler  be- 
cause of  more  cloudy  days  or  more  white- 
wash on  the  glass  roof. 

References 

Connor,  D.  M.  1985.  The  Cutting  Propagation  of 
Metasequoia  glyptostroboides.  A- 
zusa,  California:  Monrovia  Nur- 
sery Company. 

Creech,  J.  L.  1948.  Propagation  of  Metasequoia  by 
juvenile  cuttings.  Science  108 
(2815):664-665. 

Enright,  L.  J.  1958.  Response  of  Metasequoia 
cuttings  to  growth  regulator  treat- 
ments. Botanical  Gazette  120(1): 
53-54. 


Metasequoia  19 


Hamilton,  D.  1984.  Metasequoia:  Re-established  in 
North  America  after  a 13  million 
year  absence.  The  Green  Scene 
13(2):  30-34. 

Hasegawa,  K.  1951.  Propagation  of  Metasequoia 
glyptostroboides  Hu  et  Cheng  by 
cuttings.  Japanese  Forestry  Soci- 
ety Journal  33(7):  239-243. 

Konoe,  R.  1960.  Preliminary  study  on  the  optimum 
temperature  for  the  growth  of 
Metasequoia  and  related  genera. 
Journal  of  the  Institute  of  Poly- 
technics, Osaka  City  University, 
Japan  D-ll:  101-108. 

Kuser,  J.  E.  1982.  Metasequoia  keeps  on  growing. 
Ainoldia  42(3):  130-138. 

. 1983.  Inbreeding  depression  in 

Metasequoia.  Journal  of  the  Ar- 
nold Arboretum  64(3):  475-481. 

Zobel,  B.,  and  J.  Talbert.  1984.  Apphed  Forest  Tree 
Improvement.  New  York:  John 
Wiley  and  Sons.  505  pages. 


John  E.  Kuser  is  associate  professor  of  forestry, 
Cook  College,  Rutgers  University.  He  has  written 
several  articles  on  Metasequoia,  including  one  in 
the  Summer  1982  issue  of  Amoldia. 


BOTANY:  THE  STATE  OF  THE  ART 


How  Development's  Clock  Guides  Evolution 

John  W.  Einset 

Shifts  in  the  comparative  rates  at  which  organisms  differentiate,  grow,  and 
mature  are  one  source  of  evolutionary  change 


Nearly  every  school  child  is  introduced 
at  some  time  during  his  or  her  education 
to  the  hypothesis  that  ontogeny  recapitu- 
lates phylogeny.  This  hypothesis,  which 
over  the  years  has  experienced  periods 
of  enthusiastic  acceptance  as  well  as 
outright  rejection  in  the  scientific  commu- 
nity, is  usually  traced  to  Professor  Ernst 
Haeckel,  a German  biologist  whose  writ- 
ings on  the  subject  appeared  from  1860 
to  1880.  Briefly  stated,  the  hypothesis 
("Ontogeny  recapitulates  phylogeny.") 
refers  to  the  apparent  sequence  of  stages 
that  individuals  proceed  through  as  they 
develop  and  mature,  beginning  with 
embryonic  stages  resembling  distant 
evolutionary  ancestors,  then  stages 
similar  to  more  recent  ancestors,  and  so 
on  and  so  on.  In  the  most  frequently  cited 
example,  early  human  embryos  are  said 
to  resemble  fish  with  gill  slits,  then 
amphibians  with  rudimentary  tails,  etc. 
According  to  the  hypothesis,  each  stage 
in  the  development  of  an  embryo 
(ontogeny)  reflects  an  ancestor  in  the 
evolutionary  sequence  (phylogeny)  lead- 


ing up  to  humans.  Thus,  in  the  course  of 
human  evolution,  fish  gave  rise  to  amphib- 
ians and  they,  in  turn,  to  humans. 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  "ontogeny 
recapitulates  phylogeny"  is,  at  best,  an 
oversimplification  of  a complex  process, 
the  expression  does  focus  attention  on  an 
important  and  indisputable  fact  about 
evolution — namely,  that  new  species 
evolve  as  a consequence  of  modifications 
in  existing  structures.  Or,  to  put  it 
another  way,  one  might  say  that  a careful 
examination  of  an  organism's  ontogeny 
reveals  evidence  of  ancestral 
developmental  events  that  have  been 
either  elaborated  upon  or  reduced  during 
evolution.  Haeckel,  unfortunately,  felt  that 
his  ideas  could  be  extended  to 
practically  all  aspects  of  everyday  life, 
including  politics,  social  relations,  and 
even  religion.  Happily,  modern 
evolutionary  biologists  who  deal  with 
Haeckel's  concepts  usually  restrict  their 
theories  to  questions  about  the  origin  of 
new  plant  and  animal  species. 

Probably  the  most  extensive  treat- 


State  of  the  Art  21 


ment  of  Haeckel  and  the  biological  impli- 
cations of  his  theories  can  be  found 
in  Ontogeny  and  Phylogeny,  a book  by 
Stephen  Jay  Gould  of  Harvard  University. 
Professor  Gould,  whose  own  research 
focusses  on  the  evolution  of  snail  species 
in  Burma,  uses  a clock  analogy  to  show 
how  developmental  alterations  can  ac- 
count for  evolution.  To  illustrate  this, 
imagine  that  an  organism's  development 
is  laid  out  in  sequence,  like  the  hours  of  a 
clock,  such  that  "0"  to  "1,"  for  example, 
corresponds  to  early  embryonic  develop- 
ment, "1"  to  "2"  to  late  embryo  forma- 
tion, "2"  to  "3"  to  the  young  individual, 
and  so  on.  According  to  Gould's  repre- 
sentation, development  is  a semicircular 
clock — similar  to  a sundial — showing  dif- 
ferent aspects  of  this  sequence  and  com- 
posed of  three  scales:  the  first  (outer) 
scale  denoting  size,  the  second  (inner) 
scale  shape,  and  the  third  scale  time  or 
age.  To  use  the  clock,  one  follows  the  pro- 
gression of  size  and  shape  (form)  in  an  in- 
dividual's lifetime  by  watching  the  move- 
ment of  hands  across  the  different  scales. 
Think  of  it  as  the  model  of  existence  or, 
alternatively,  as  the  ancestral  type! 

What  happens  to  the  clock  during 
evolution?  If  one  accepts  Haeckel's  inter- 
pretation (i.e.,  recapitulation),  then  evo- 
lution produces  new  species  by  adding 
structures  onto  the  end  on  the  ancestral 
sequence.  In  other  words,  "ontogeny  re- 
capitulates phylogeny"  means  that  devel- 
opment repeats  all  the  stages  (shapes)  of 
an  individual's  ancestors  just  as  human 
embryos  form  rudimentary  gill  slits,  then 
a tail  and  then  some  other  seemingly  out- 
of-place  structure  during  the  course  of 
their  development.  According  to  the 
clock  analogy,  recapitulation  runs  the 
"shape"  hand  faster  than  the  "size" 
and  "age"  hands. 


Size  Shape  Age 

Ancestral 


Size  Shape  Age 

Progenesis 


Neoteny 


Size  Shape  Age 

Recapitulation 


Developmental  " Clocks ” Illustrating  the  Categories 
of  Heterochronic  Change  Involved  in  Evolution. 

Each  clock  is  set  at  the  stage  of  reproductive  maturity — i.e., 
flowering.  In  the  Ancestral  clock,  "size"  and  "shape"  pro- 
ceed synchronously  over  time.  Progenesis  also  involves  syn- 
chrony, but  in  this  case  reproductive  maturity  occurs  ear- 
lier during  ontogeny.  By  contrast,  both  Neoteny  and  Reca- 
pitulation involve  developmental  changes  in  the  relation- 
ships among  size,  shape,  and  age.  Neoteny,  for  example, 
involves  a retardation  of  shape  development  relative  to  size 
and  time.  On  the  other  hand,  recapitulation  consists  of  ac- 
celerated shape  development. 


22  State  of  the  Art 


Obviously,  if  one  thinks  of  devel- 
opment in  terms  of  a clock,  additional 
ways  of  tinkering  with  the  hands,  other 
than  recapitulation,  ought  to  be  feasible. 
Theoretically,  for  example,  one  could 
have  the  shape  hand  run  slowly 
compared  to  age  and  size.  Known  as 
neoteny,  the  result  would  be  an  adult  with 
juvenile  features,-  evolutionary  biologists 
use  the  term  paedomorphosis  to  refer  to 
the  retention  of  ancestral  juvenile  charac- 
teristics in  adults  of  descendants.  Hu- 
mans, for  instance,  are  often  considered 
to  be  neotenic  in  several  respects,  in- 
cluding the  shapes  of  our  skulls,  com- 
pared to  ape-like  ancestors.  Among  zoolo- 
gical scholars,  the  most  famous  example 
of  neoteny  is  the  axolotl,  a salamander 
that  retains,  as  an  adult,  the  gills  and 
undeveloped  lungs  typical  of  salamander 
larvae.  Not  surprisingly,  this  animal 
caused  considerable  difficulty  for  Profes- 
sor Haeckel  because,  after  all,  axolotl's 
features  hardly  fit  into  a scheme  of  evolu- 
tion based  on  recapitulation.  Rather  than 
adding  on  structures  to  the  end  of  an  an- 
cestral sequence,  it  abbreviates  develop- 
ment by  eliminating  the  later  stages  of 
the  sequence. 

If  all  three  hands  of  the  develop- 
mental clock  ("size,"  "shape,"  and 
"age")  are  retarded  simultaneously,  one 
obtains  a precociously  mature  individual, 
small  in  stature  and  with  juvenile 
characteristics.  This  condition,  which  is 
known  as  progenesis,  is  an  alternative  evo- 
lutionary mechanism  that  results  in  paedo- 
morphosis. Several  examples  of  progenet- 
ic  insect  species  are  known,  and,  in  fact, 
the  hormonal  basis  of  this  phenomenon  is 
an  area  of  active  scientific  investigation. 
Researchers  feel  that  so-called  preco- 
cenes,  hormones  that  cause  early  sexual 
maturity  in  juvenile-appearing  insects, 


might  be  used  effectively  in  controlling  in- 
sect populations. 

Recapitulation,  neoteny,  and  pro- 
genesis are  all  examples  of  heterochro- 
ny, a collective  term  that  refers  to  any 
kind  of  evolutionary  change  in  the  timing 
of  developmental  events.  Although  most 
studies  of  it  concentrate  on  animal  exam- 
ples, heterochrony  is  a general  biological 
phenomenon  that  undoubtedly  affects 
every  group  of  organisms  in  the  world, 
including  plants.  Take,  for  instance,  the 
so-called  closed  ( cleistogamous , CL)  and 
open  ( chasmogamous , CH)  flowers  of 
violets  ( Viola  spp.),  Lamium  amplexicaule 
and  Collomia  grandiflora  studied  by 
Professor  Elizabeth  M.  Lord  of  the 
University  of  California  at  Riverside.  CL 
flowers  normally  appear  early  in  the 
growing  season,  are  reduced  in  size,  and 
fail  to  open  completely  to  shed  pollen.  An 
adaptation  for  self-pollination,  cleistoga- 
my  probably  evolved  as  a mechanism  to 
guarantee  fertilization,  and  subsequent 
seed  set,  at  a time  of  year  when  insect 
pollinators  are  scarce.  In  terms  of  the  de- 
velopmental implications,  the  CL  flowers 
reach  reproductive  maturity  (pollen  forma- 
tion) faster  than  do  CH  flowers  on  the 
same  plant,  but  they  fail  to  complete 
petal  and  sepal  development.  Interesting- 
ly, the  actual  rate  of  petal  and  sepal  de- 
velopment in  CL  and  CH  flowers  appears 
to  be  identical,  at  least  in  Collomia. 
Thus,  the  change  in  petal  and  sepal 
growth  that  results  in  CL  flowers  involves 
an  alteration  in  the  duration,  rather  than 
in  the  rate,  of  organ  development.  In  the 
language  of  heterochrony,  a CL  flower  is 
considered  to  be  a progenetic  organ. 

According  to  Armen  Takhtajan, 
an  expert  on  systematics  at  the  Komorov 
Botanical  Institute  in  Leningrad,  neoteny 
also  plays  an  important  evolutionary  role 


State  of  the  Ait  23 


in  generating  plant  diversity.  Alpine 
meadow  races  of  Potentilla  glandulosa, 
for  example,  appear  “juvenile"  at  sexual 
maturity  compared  to  races  found  at  mid- 
dle latitudes  or  on  the  coast.  Takhtajan 
cites  carpel  evolution  and  the  female 
gametophyte  of  angiosperms,  as  well  as 
additional  examples  of  neoteny  in  plant 
evolution. 

Professor  Sherwin  Carlquist  of 
Pomona  College  feels  that  xylem 
evolution  in  species  of  Erigeron 
(fleabane)  in  the  Family  Asteraceae  has 
involved  pasdomorphic  events.  Apparent- 
ly, in  the  ancestral  species,  xylem  ves- 
sels produced  by  seedlings  were  shorter 
than  those  laid  down  later  in  develop- 
ment. Several  modern  species  of  Eriger- 
on, on  the  other  hand,  produce  only  short- 
ened vessels,  even  at  sexual  maturity. 

Heterochrony  can  also  be  seen  in 
the  tissue-culture  responses  of  woody 
species  studied  at  the  Arnold  Arboretum. 
During  the  last  three  years  we  conducted 
an  extensive,  comparative  investigation 
to  determine  the  relationship  between 
shoot-tip  response  in  culture  and  system- 
atics.  The  results  of  that  study  show  that 
responsiveness  is  sporadically  distributed 
among  taxa  with  species  in  Subclass 
Magnoliidae  generally  failing  to  grow 
and  species  in  Subclass  Asteridae  as  well 
as  the  orders  Ericales,  Fabales,  and  Ros- 
ales multiplying  rapidly  in  culture.  In  at- 
tempting to  understand  the  evolution  of 
this  physiological  diversity,  we  theorize 
that  differences  between  taxonomic 
groups  can  be  explained  on  the  basis  of 
heterochrony  by  assuming  that  the  ances- 
tral ontogenetic  sequence  for  shoot-tip 
maturation  proceeded  from  responsive  to 
nonresponsive  stages.  Among  six  spe- 
cies of  Cornus,  for  example,  three  fail  to 
respond  as  seedlings  or  adults,  two  re- 


Chasmogamous  (top)  and  Both  Cleistogamous  (CL) 
and  Chasmogamous  (CH)  Flowers  (bottom)  of  Collo- 
mia  grandiflora.  CH  flowers  are  about  one  inch  (2.5 
cm)  long  at  anthesis.  Courtesy  Elizabeth  M.  Lord. 


State  of  the  Art  25 


spond  as  seedlings  only,  and  a single  pae- 
domorphic  species  ( Cornus  canadensis ) 
responds  both  as  a seedling  and  as  an 
adult. 

As  far  as  practical  applications 
are  concerned,  the  significance  of  the 
Developmental  clock  is  that  it  defines  the 
kinds  of  new  plants  that  are  possible  sim- 
ply by  heterochronic  alterations  in  exist- 
ing ontogenetic  patterns.  For  example,  if 
Cornus  canadensis  is  the  result  of  neote- 
ny  in  dogwoods,  conceivably  a similar 
process  could  generate  horizontally  grow- 
ing flowering  species  in  other  groups,  as 
well.  To  think  of  additional  possibilities, 
just  imagine  the  manifold  consequences 
that  could  occur  every  time  develop- 
ment's clock  starts  to  run  a little  different- 
ly- 

Tick,  tock,  tick,  tock. . . . 


Bibliography 

Stephen  Jay  Gould.  Ontogeny  and  Phytogeny.  Cam- 
bridge, Massachusetts:  Harvard 
University  Press,  1977. 

Elizabeth  M.  Lord.  Cleistogamy:  A tool  for  the  study 
of  floral  morphogenesis,  function, 
and  evolution.  Botanical  Review, 
47: 421-449  (1981). 

Armen  Takhtajan.  Patterns  of  ontogenetic  alterations 
in  the  evolution  of  higher  plants. 
Phytomorphology,  Volume  22: 
164-171  (1972). 


John  W.  Einset  is  associate  professor  of  biology  in 
Harvard  University  and  director  of  the  Arnold  Arbo- 
retum's Laboratory  of  Comparative  Physiology. 


Electron  Microscope  Views  of  Collomia  Meristems  Developing  into  CL  (left)  and  CH  (right)  Flowers.  Each  pair  of 
photographs  shows  a different  stage  in  flower  maturation.  From  top  to  bottom:  The  first  two  photographs  show 
the  early  appearance  of  petals  (c,  corollaj  while  in  the  middle  pictures  petals,  anthers  (a)  and  the  developing  pistil 
(g,  gynoeciumj  are  evident.  Later  stages  in  petal,  anther,  and  pistil  development  are  shown  in  the  photographs  at 
the  bottom  of  the  figure.  Based  on  the  fact  that  early  floral  ontogeny  in  CL  and  CH  is  virtually  identical,  the  CL 
flower  in  Collomia  is  considered  to  be  a progenetic  organ.  Courtesy  of  Elizabeth  M.  Lord. 


BOOKS 


Illustrations  of  Pteridophytes  of  Japan, 
Volume  4,  edited  by  S.  Kurata  and  T. 
Nakaike.  Tokyo:  University  of  Tokyo 
Press,  1985.  x + 850  pages  + maps. 
Available  in  the  United  States  from 
Columbia  University  Press.  $64.95. 

DAVID  E.  BOUFFORD 

This  volume  represents  the  fourth  in  a 
regularly  appearing  series  that  began  in 
1979  and  that  eventually  will  treat  the 
more  than  six  hundred  species  of  ferns 
and  fern  allies  occurring  in  Japan  proper, 
the  Ryukyu  Islands,  and  the  Bonin  Is- 
lands. As  with  volumes  1 through  3,  Vol- 
ume 4 treats  one  hundred  taxa,  providing 
for  each  a full-page  habit-habitat  photo- 
graph, a full-page  line  drawing  of  a frond 
or  of  fronds,  frequently  with  detailed  draw- 
ings of  critically  important  parts  (scales, 
sori,  etc.),  a full-page  map  showing 
distribution,  and  numerous  citations  of 
specimens  on  which  the  distribution  is 
based.  The  citations  are  extensive  and 
take  up  the  major  portion  of  the  book. 
Photographs  of  spores  taken  through  a 
light  microscope  of  every  taxon  treated 
in  the  text  are  covered  in  seven  pages  at 
the  back  of  the  book;  three  pages  of 
documentation  accompany  these  photo- 
graphs. The  book  is  entirely  in  Japanese 
except  for  plant  names  and  the  measure- 
ments for  the  line  drawings.  Despite  this, 
English-language  readers  can  obtain 
much  useful  information.  For  those  in- 
terested in  growing  ferns,  the  photo- 


graphs provide  habitat  data,  and  the  dis- 
tribution maps  are  extremely  helpful  for 
determining  hardiness,  especially  if  one 
considers  that  species  that  grow  on  Hok- 
kaido or  through  the  central  backbone 
and  northern  portions  of  Honshu  probably 
would  grow  in  New  England  and  in  much 
of  the  Appalachian  region,  and  that  ferns 
from  other  parts  of  Japan  probably  would 
grow  throughout  the  warmer  parts  of  the 
eastern  and  southeastern  United  States. 
The  line  drawings  (by  several  different 
artists)  are  valuable  aids  in  identification. 

The  major  families  covered  in  this 
volume  (their  names  are  given  in  Japa- 
nese only)  are  the  Equisetaceae,  Isoeta- 
ceae,  Marattiaceae,  Schizaeaceae,  Pteri- 
daceae,  Davalliaceae,  Plagiogyriaceae, 
Cyatheaceae,  Aspidiaceae,  and  Aspleni- 
aceae,  but  not  all  genera  in  each  of  those 
families  are  treated.  For  example,  Vol- 
ume 4 covers  most  Japanese  species  of 
Diyopteris,  but  others  are  covered  in 
volume  2;  species  of  Pteris  are  also  in 
Volumes  1 and  4.  An  unfortunate  aspect 
of  the  work  is  the  absence  of  synonymy. 

The  book  is  of  the  highest-quality 
production,  and  the  illustrations  and  pho- 
tographs are  first  rate.  For  anyone  inter- 
ested in  the  relationships  of  North  Amer- 
ican and  eastern  Asian  ferns  the  illustra- 
tions alone  are  highly  informative  and 
useful.  For  the  quality  of  production  the 
book  is  reasonably  priced,  but  if  one 
thinks  of  buying  the  complete  set  one 
should  consider  the  total  cost  of  what 
may  eventually  be  a seven-volume  set. 


Books  27 


Additional  comments  on  this  series  can 
be  found  in  the  reviews  of  volumes  1,  2, 
and  3 published  in  the  American  Fern 
Journal  (Cranfill,  1982;  Price,  1982, 
1984). 

References 

Cranfill,  R.  1982.  Illustrations  of  the  Pteridophytes 
of  Japan,  Volume  1:  A review. 
American  Fern  Journal,  Volume 
72,  Number  1,  page  11. 

Price,  M.  G.  1982.  Illustrations  of  the  Pteridophytes 
of  Japan,  Volume  2:  A review. 
American  Fern  Journal,  Volume 
72,  Number  2,  page  48 . 

. 1984.  Illustrations  of  the  Pterido- 
phytes of  Japan,  Volume  3:  A re- 
view. American  Fern  Journal,  Vol- 
ume 74,  Number  1,  page  6. 


David  E.  Boufford  is  Curatorial  Taxonomist  of  the 
Arnold  Arboretum's  Living  Collections. 


Native  and  Cultivated  Conifers  of  North- 
eastern North  America:  A Guide,  by  Ed- 
ward A.  Cope.  Ithaca,  New  York,  and 
London:  Cornell  University  Press,  1986. 
231  pages.  $39.95  (cloth),  $17.95  (paper). 

RICHARD  WARREN 

This  book  is  wholly  directed  at  the  identifi- 
cation of  conifers  and  at  distinguishing 
them  from  each  other.  It  gives  no  atten- 
tion to  cultivation,  propagation,  or  the  dis- 
eases that  affect  them. 

The  order  Coniferales  contains 
sixty-four  genera  and  some  five  hundred 


seventy  species.  In  order  not  to  be  tedi- 
ously encyclopedic,  a manual,  or  guide, 
on  conifers,  therefore,  requires  thorough 
winnowing  of  the  material  to  be  discus- 
sed. Only  then  can  the  size  be  manage- 
able and  the  treatment  sufficiently  thor- 
ough to  interest  horticulturists  and  taxono- 
mists. The  author  has  done  this  wisely, 
focussing  on  northeastern  North  America 
(Canada  to  southern  Pennsylvania,  and 
the  Atlantic  shore  to  Kansas). 

But  even  with  such  defined  bounda- 
ries one  cannot  be  strict.  When  he  was  in 
doubt  about  the  hardiness  of  a plant,  for 
instance,  the  author  usually  has  included 
it.  He  lists,  for  example,  Cunninghamia 
lanceolata,  Pinus  ayrcahiute,  and  Sequoi- 
adendron  gigantea,  which  do  grow  in  the 
Boston  area,  but  with  considerable  diffi- 
culty. He  has  not  included  the  "southern 
pines,"  other  than  those,  such  as  Pinus 
echinata  and  Pinus  virginiana,  which  are 
not  exclusively  "southern."  We  miss  the 
other  southern  species,  of  course,  but 
that  can't  be  helped;  the  dividing  line  has 
been  drawn  as  judiciously  as  possible. 
One  inconsistency  does  catch  the  eye, 
namely,  the  inclusion  of  a drawing  of 
Cypressus  macrocarpa,  which  is  definite- 
ly not  hardy  in  the  northeastern  United 
States — nor  does  the  author  contend  that 
it  is.  The  inclusion  of  the  drawing  is  unne- 
cessary. 

With  the  passage  of  time,  the 
numbers  of  genera  officially  accepted  in 
the  Coniferales,  as  in  other  orders  of 
plants,  has  inexorably  increased.  These 
have  grown  in  the  last  twenty  years  from 
fifty-four  (Dallimore  and  Jackson,  1966) 
to  sixty-four  (the  present  work).  Eight 
have  been  added  in  the  Podocarpaceae 
and  two  in  the  Cupressaceae.  The  author 
lists  these  in  Appendix  2,  a helpful  tabula- 
tion of  the  genera  currently  recognized. 


28  Books 


According  to  modern  custom,  the 
Taxaceae  are  included  in  both  Cope's 
present  treatment  and  Dallimore  and 
Jackson  (1966). 

Cope's  tally  of  cultivars  is  compre- 
hensive— 2,669  in  all.  Many  of  his  de- 
scriptions are  telegraphic:  "growth  coni- 
cal, rapid,"  "growth  rounded,  dense, 
branch  tips  feathery,  some  leaves  needle- 
like," "growth  columnar  to  conical,  twigs 
cord-like,  clustered."  Even  though  some 
have  no  description  ( nomina  nuda),  the 
checklist  is  useful,  since  even  setting 
down  the  name  by  itself  is  a form  of  intro- 
duction to  the  reader,  who  may  only  be 
needing  reassurance  that  the  plant 
exists. 

The  illustrations  are  an  interesting 
and  important  part  of  the  book.  Their  best 
feature  is  the  fine  line  drawings  of 
branchlets  with  their  attached  leaves, 
clear  and  simple,  designed  to  show  such 
things  as  hairiness  and  grooving  of  the 
branchlets,  the  shape,  attachments  to  the 
branchlet  and  presence  or  absence  of 
stomata  on  the  leaves.  They  are  set  along- 
side the  keys  principally  to  demonstrate  a 
decisive  feature  for  establishing  iden- 
tification. This  use  of  focussed  drawings 
to  draw  attention  to  a taxonomic  point 
and  juxtaposed  to  the  appropriate  spot  in 
the  key  should  be  used,  in  my  opinion, 
more  widely  in  books  of  this  kind.  The 
quality  of  the  drawings  is,  on  the  whole,  of 
high  standard.  A few,  however,  such  as  of 
leaf  attachments  on  Taxus,  are  too  con- 
gested to  demonstrate  the  desired  fea- 
tures clearly. 

Photographs  of  one  of  this  species 
stands  at  the  beginning  of  the  treatment 
of  each  genus.  These  usually  do  show  the 
habit,  but  the  photographic  reproductions 
are  not  clear  enough  in  most  instances  to 
reveal  details  of  foliage. 


The  author  confines  himself  to 
vegetative  characteristics  to  establish 
identification,  a praiseworthy  attempt  at 
simplification,  but  like  most  of  us  who 
have  attempted  to  do  this,  he  has  frequent- 
ly given  in  and  mentioned  cones.  He  un- 
derstandably resorts,  for  instance,  to  not- 
ing the  exsertion  of  the  cone  scale  bracts 
in  Abies  fraseri  to  distinguish  it  from 
Abies  balsamea.  I also  wish  that  he  had 
added  other  features,  such  as  position  of 
the  resin  canals  in  the  leaves  of  Abies. 
These  can  help  in  distinguishing  the 
species  of  that  genus.  Furthermore,  those 
who,  unlike  myself,  are  in  full  possession 
of  their  olfactory  powers,  will  surely  miss 
reference  to  odors  of  crushed  foliage. 
The  aromatic  odor  of  members  of  the 
genus  Thuja,  for  instance,  is  strikingly 
and  pleasingly  different  from  that  of  mem- 
bers of  the  genus  Chamaecyparis,  which 
is  dull  and  somewhat  foetid,  particularly 
that  of  Chamaecyparis  nootkatensis. 

In  some  places  the  presentation 
is  slightly  confusing.  To  derive  a full  de- 
scription of  a plant,  one  must  study  not 
only  the  separate  treatment  that  appears 
after  the  key,  but  also  that  contained  in 
the  key  itself.  Pseudotsuga  menziesii  (the 
Douglas  fir),  for  instance,  appears  on 
page  146,  followed  by  a general  descrip- 
tion, including  that  of  the  characteristic 
cone,  but  to  appreciate  the  importance  in 
identification  of  the  very  characteristic 
pointed  winter  bud,  one  must  turn  to  page 
21,  where  it  appears  in  the  key  to  coni- 
ferous genera.  The  index,  however,  is 
very  good,  and  everything  can  be  found 
with  assiduous  turning  of  pages. 

Although  outstanding  manuals  on 
conifers  have  appeared  over  recent  de- 
cades in  Europe  and  Britain,  we  have  not 
seen  one  from  the  United  States  since  Lib- 
erty Hyde  Bailey's  The  Cultivated  Coni- 


Books  29 


fers  was  published  in  1933.  This  excel- 
lent manual,  like  Bailey's  the  result  of 
work  done  at  Cornell  University,  is,  there- 
fore, doubly  welcome. 


Richard  Warren,  M.D..,  is  an  Associate  of  the  Arnold 
Arboretum  and  Honorary  Curator  of  its  Conifer 
Collection. 


Rocky  Mountain  Alpines:  The  Inter- 
national Alpines  Conference  1986,  edit- 
ed by  Jean  Williams.  Portland,  Oregon: 
Timber  Press,  1986.  300  pages.  $35.00. 

JUDY  GLATTSTEIN 

When  wildflowers  are  mentioned,  people 
tend  to  think  first  of  the  ephemerals  of  the 
spring  woods — trilliums,  violets,  blood- 
root — then,  perhaps,  of  "meadow  garden- 
ing" pursued  as  an  alternative  to  keeping 
a lawn.  Rock  gardening,  for  some  reason, 
they  distinguish  from  wildflower  garden- 
ing. But  ever  since  Reginald  Farrer  of  Eng- 
land began  writing  on  the  virtues  and 
shortcomings  of  alpine  plants  in  the  early 
years  of  this  century,  interest  in  them  has 
grown.  In  the  decades  since,  plants  have 
been  brought  into  cultivation  from  the 
mountain  ranges  of  Europe  and  Asia.  In 
1934,  the  American  Rock  Garden  Society 
was  formed.  At  long  last,  wildflowers  from 
the  mountains  of  America  are  taking  their 
rightful  place  as  desirable  plants  for  rock, 
or  alpine,  gardens  both  in  the  United 
States  and  abroad. 

The  Second  Interim  International 
Rock  Garden  Conference  was  held  in 
Boulder  Colorado,  from  June  28  through 


July  3,  1986,  its  theme  being  "The  Rocky 
Mountains,  Backbone  of  the  Continent." 
A book,  Rocky  Mountain  Alpines,  was 
prepared  in  advance  of  the  Conference, 
like  the  Conference  the  shared  respon- 
sibility of  the  American  Rock  Garden 
Society,  the  Denver  Botanic  Garden,  and 
the  Rock  Mountain  Chapter  of  the  Amer- 
ican Rock  Garden  Society.  Over  forty  au- 
thorities on  various  aspects  of  the  Rockies 
contributed  material  about  their  special- 
ties. Hardbound  and  three  hundred  pages 
long,  this  hefty  (8V2  by  11  inches)  book  is 
no  pocket  guide  for  slipping  into  your 
pack  as  you  scramble  about  above  ten 
thousand  feet.  It  is  too  big  and  heavy  for 
that. 

Rocky  Mountain  Alpines  is  def- 
initely a book  for  the  advanced  ama- 
teur— rather  than  novice — in  rock,  or  al- 
pine, gardening.  The  Latin  names  of 
plants  are  used,  as  they  should  be,  and  fa- 
miliarity with  many  of  the  plants  is  tacitly 
expected.  Most  chapters  conclude  with  a 
list  of  references,-  there  is  also  a bibliog- 
raphy of  books  and  periodicals. 

The  book  is  divided  into  three 
parts:  "The  Roots  of  the  Rockies,"  "Wild 
Rock  Gardens  of  the  Rockies,"  and 
"Rocky  Mountain  Plants  in  Cultivation." 
Black-and-white  illustrations  of  plants  and 
scenery  and  excellent  four-page  color 
sections  scattered  throughout  the  book 
enhance  the  text.  "The  Roots  of  the 
Rockies"  covers  the  geology,  climate, 
and  early  botanizing  and  rock  gardening 
in  the  Rockies.  Maps  and  charts  give 
clear  information  on  hardiness  zones, 
solar  radiation,  and  precipitation.  "Wild 
Rock  Gardens  of  the  Rockies"  is  divided 
into  five  sections.  Since  it  stretches  some 
three  thousand  miles,  from  Canada  into 
Mexico,  there  are  regional  differences  in 


30  Books 


the  Rocky  Mountain  chain.  The  five  sec- 
tions deal  with  "Northern  Rockies:  Gla- 
cier and  Muskeg,"  "Middle  Rockies: 
Sagebrush  and  Scree,"  "Southern 
Rockies:  Peaks  and  Parklands,"  "Colo- 
rado Plateau:  Canyons  and  Color,"  and 
"Western  Drylands:  Plains  and  Plateaus." 
Chapters  within  each  section  describe  a 
particular  area,  "walking"  the  reader  on- 
to a trail  and  describing  plants  to  be 
found  along  the  way.  A map  of  the  area  to 
be  discussed  precedes  each  chapter. 

For  the  rock  gardener,  Part  Three 
(on  Rocky  Mountain  plants  in  cultivation) 
is  the  most  valuable  part  of  the  book.  It, 
in  turn,  is  divided  into  three  sections.  The 
first  deals  with  Denver  Botanic  Gardens's 
experience  with  these  plants  in  cultiva- 
tion in  the  Rocky  Mountains.  It  has  six 
pages  of  valuable  information  on  seed 
propagation.  In  my  opinion,  Denver  Bo- 
tanic Gardens  have  an  excellent,  world- 
class  rock  garden.  The  second  section, 
"In  the  Garden:  Adapting  to  Micro- 
climates," is  probably  the  most  uneven 
portion  of  the  book.  I find  it  to  be  more  of 
an  eclectic  grouping  of  information  on 
the  cultivation  of  plants  than  a discussion 
about  adapting  to  microclimates.  It  deals 
with  cultivation  under  lights  and  in 
troughs  (containers),  commercial  produc- 
tion, cultivation  in  a rare-plant  nursery 
and  in  dry  sand,  cultivation  on  hum- 
mocks, and  the  overall  design  of  private 
gardens.  The  information  on  culture  is 
good  and  should  be  helpful  to  gardeners 
attempting  to  cultivate  plants  from  the 
drylands  of  the  West  in  more  humid 
climates.  The  third  section,  "Around  the 
World:  Adapting  to  Different  Climates," 
has  chapters  on  the  cultivation  of  Rocky 
Mountain  alpine  plants  in  the  Northeast, 
the  Midwest,  and  the  Northwest  regions 


of  the  United  States,-  Great  Britain,-  Ice- 
land,- Czechoslovakia,-  and  Japan.  This 
section,  too,  is  uneven  in  quality.  The  in- 
formation about  climatic  conditions  and 
on  providing  proper  growing  conditions  in 
the  various  countries  or  regions  is  help- 
ful. Brief,  one-  or  two-line  items  about  indi- 
vidual plants  are  sometimes  useful,  often 
cryptic. 

Rocky  Mountain  Alpines  provides 
a guide  to  areas  worth  visiting  for  the 
sake  of  their  floras,  whetting  the  reader's 
appetite.  Its  discussions  of  propagation 
and  cultivation  lend  hope  to  the  lowland 
gardener.  Most  importantly,  it  focusses  at- 
tention at  last  on  the  fascinating  flora  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains.  Growers  of  exhibi- 
tion dahlias  probably  will  find  little  of  in- 
terest in  the  book.  Rock  gardeners  will 
love  it. 


Judy  Glattstein,  a landscape  consultant,  who  special- 
izes in  peiennial-boidei  design  and  the  use  of  native 
plants  in  the  landscape,  chairs  the  American  Rock 
Garden  Society’s  Connecticut  Chapter.  She  is  an  in- 
structor at  The  New  York  Botanical  Garden  and  at 
the  Brooklyn  Botanic  Gardens. 


Azaleas,  by  Fred  Galle.  Portland,  Oregon: 
Timber  Press,  1985.  438  pages.  $65.00. 

C.  J.  PATTERSON 

There  has  been  a need  for  a comprehen- 
sive book  on  azaleas  for  a long  time,  a sit- 
uation aggravated  by  the  avalanche  of 
new  information  and  registered  cultivars 
over  the  last  ten  years.  Dr.  Fred  C.  Galle, 
retired  director  of  Callaway  Gardens  in 


Books  31 


Georgia,  has  undertaken  to  write  just 
such  a book. 

His  credentials  for  the  task  are  im- 
pressive. Decades  of  devoted  work  at  Cal- 
laway Gardens  have  given  him  direct  ex- 
perience with  the  horticultural  side  of 
evergreen  azaleas,  and  a personal  enthu- 
siasm for  our  native  deciduous  azaleas 
(the  subject  of  his  doctoral  dissertation) 
has  schooled  him  as  a botanist.  He  is  a 
hybridizer  and  has  introduced  both  his 
own  azalea  hybrids  and  selections,  taken 
from  the  wild,  of  native  species  and  natu- 
ral hybrids.  In  addition,  he  is  by  nature  a 
careful,  meticulous,  scholarly  worker, 
with  a writing  style  that  flows  very  smooth- 
ly and  is  easy  to  read.  To  expand  the 
scope  of  his  book  he  has  brought  in  assis- 
tance on  the  technical  chapters  on  hybri- 
dizing and  diseases. 

The  book  begins  simply,  with  a dis- 
cussion on  the  use  of  color.  The  heart  of 
the  book  begins  with  a set  of  wonderful 
keys  and  a very  brief  treatment  of  azalea 
nomenclature  and  taxonomy.  Deciduous 
and  evergreen  azaleas  are  discussed  sep- 
arately in  a format  that  describes  all  the 
species  in  that  section  first  and  then 
deals  with  the  hybrids  of  that  section. 

Dr.  Galle  has  divided  the  hybrids 
into  groups  according  to  hybridizer,  par- 
entage, and/or  place  of  origin,  forming  a 
series  of  lists.  Each  cultivar  is  described 
by  hybridizer,  parentage  (where  known), 
date  of  introduction  and/or  registration, 
size,  growth  habit,  and  color.  The  lists 
make  up  the  bulk — about  three-fifths — of 
the  text. 

The  lists  can  be  confusing  be- 
cause azalea  varieties  have  frequently 
been  segregated  into  new  categories, 
where  before  the  varieties  had  been 
combined  in  the  public's  mind.  There  is, 
fortunately,  an  index  of  all  the  named 


varieties,  which  allows  one  to  find  a 
particular  azalea,  even  in  total  ignorance 
of  its  origins  or  hybridizer. 

The  book  closes  with  very  read- 
able and  clear  chapters  on  pests  and  dis- 
eases, cultivation,  hybridizers,  azalea  in- 
troductions, and  lists  of  azaleas  under 
several  headings. 

Unfortunately,  Azaleas  is  not  with- 
out flaws.  It  is  a very  large  volume,  six 
hundred  pages  in  a large  format  (includ- 
ing three  hundred  sixty-six  color  plates) 
and  deals  with  a complex  subject.  No  rea- 
sonable reader  demands  perfection  in  a 
book  of  such  size  and  scope,  but  the  edit- 
ing of  Azaleas  (the  publisher's  responsibil- 
ity) is  worse  than  usual.  Inaccuracies  and 
misspellings  dot  the  work  like  plums  in  a 
pudding,  detracting  from  the  whole.  The 
index  is  inaccurate,  and  the  photography 
is  mediocre,  with  many  dark,  ill-defined, 
and  blurred  shots — not  to  mention  one 
photograph  that  is  upsidedown. 

Yet  not  only  the  editing  could 
have  been  better.  I can  only  say  that  any 
reader  not  already  thoroughly  familiar 
with  the  taxonomy  of  deciduous  azaleas 
would  have  to  come  away  frustrated,  con- 
fused, and  disappointed  from  the  chapter 
on  that  subject.  After  explaining  that  the 
classification  of  deciduous  azaleas  is  con- 
troversial and  presenting  a tantalizing 
“tip  of  the  iceberg,"  Dr.  Galle  proceeds 
to  pick  one  system  to  use  and  blithely 
continues  using  it,  failing  to  tell  us  why 
he  chose  it,  or  even  to  explain  clearly 
how  the  systems  differ  from  one  another. 
In  fact,  he  dismisses  years  of  careful 
research  on  this  difficult  and  important 
problem  (including  his  own)  by  presenting 
an  outline  of  other  books  that  have  pub- 
lished the  research  results.  Even  a casual 
reader  is  likely  to  want  at  least  a sum- 
mary of  the  research;  the  serious  reader 


32  Books 


is  genuinely  hampered  in  his  understand- 
ing of  this  section.  There  is  the  additional 
annoyance  of  having  paid  more  than  six- 
ty dollars  for  a "complete"  work  on  aza- 
leas only  to  be  referred  to  other  books  for 
the  information  one  seeks.  Add  to  this  the 
long  list  of  new  evergreen  azalea  species 
about  which  only  sketchy  information  is 
yet  available  and  one  is  left  with  the 
suspicion  that  we  will  need  yet  another 
"definitive  work"  on  azaleas  in  the  not 
distant  future. 

Despite  its  flaws,  Azaleas  is  still 
the  best  and  most  complete  (and  certain- 
ly the  most  ambitious)  reference  work  de- 
voted solely  to  azaleas  yet  written.  Every 
good  horticultural  library  should  own  it, 
and  I am  sure  that  many  private  garden- 
ers and  gardens  would  benefit  enormous- 
ly from  its  enthusiastic  treatment  of  this 
important  group  of  plants. 


C.  J.  Patterson  is  one  of  the  mainstays  of  the  Arnold 
Arboretum's  Plant  Information  Hotline.  A member 
of  the  American  Rhododendron  Society,  she  is  an 
avid  grower  and  collector  of  native  deciduous 
species  of  azalea. 


U.  S POSTAL  SERVICE 
STATEMENT  OF  OWNERSHIP, 
MANAGEMENT,  AND  CIRCULATION 
(Required  by  39  U.  S.  C.  3685) 

1.  Title  of  publication:  Amoldia.  A.  Publication  Number:  0004—2633.  2. 
Date  of  filing:  October  20,  1986.  3.  Frequency  of  issue:  Quarterly.  A. 
Number  of  issues  published  annually:  4.  Annual  subscription  price:  $12 
domestic,  $15  foreign.  4.  Complete  mailing  address  of  known  office  of 
publication:  The  Arnold  Arboretum,  Jamaica  Plain  (Boston),  Suffolk 
County,  MA  02130-2795.  5.  Complete  mailing  address  of  general  busi- 
ness office  of  the  publisher:  The  Arnold  Arboretum,  Jamaica  Plain  (Bos- 
ton), Suffolk  County,  MA  02130-2795.  6.  Full  names  and  complete 
addresses  of  publisher  and  editor  The  Arnold  Arboretum,  Jamaica  Plain 
(Boston),  Suffolk  County,  MA  02130-2795,  publisher;  Edmund  A.  Scho- 
field, The  Arnold  Arboretum,  Jamaica  Plain  (Boston),  MA  02130-2795, 
editor.  7.  Owner:  The  Arnold  Arboretum  of  Harvard  University,  Jamaica 
Plain  (Boston),  MA  02130-2795.  8.  Known  bondholders,  mortgagees, 
and  other  security  holders  owning  or  holding  1 percent  or  more  of  total 
amount  of  bonds,  mortgages,  or  other  securities:  None.  9.  For  comple- 
tion by  nonprofit  organizations  authorized  to  mail  at  special  rates  (Sec- 
tion 411.3,  DMM  only):  The  purpose,  function,  and  nonprofit  status  of 
this  organization  and  the  exempt  status  for  Federal  income  tax  pur- 
poses have  not  changed  during  the  preceding  12  months.  10.  Extent 
and  nature  of  circulation:  A.  Total  number  of  copies.  Average  number  of 
copies  each  issue  during  the  preceding  12  months:  4,750.  Actual 
number  of  copies  single  issue  published  nearest  to  filing  date:  5,000.  B. 
Paid  circulation.  1.  Sales  through  dealers  and  carriers,  street  vendors, 
and  counter  sales.  Average  number  of  copies  each  issue  during  preced- 
ing 12  months:  None.  Actual  number  of  copies  of  single  issue  published 
nearest  to  filing  date:  None.  2.  Mail  subscription.  Average  number  of 
copies  each  issue  during  preceding  12  months:  608.  Actual  number  of 
copies  of  single  issue  published  nearest  to  filing  date:  615.  D.  Free  dis- 
tribution by  mail,  carrier,  or  other  means  (sample,  complimentary,  and 
other  free  copies).  Average  number  of  copies  each  issue  during  preced- 
ing 12  months:  3,025.  Actual  number  of  copies  of  single  issue  published 
nearest  to  filing  date:  3,057.  E.  Total  distribution.  Average  number  of 
copies  each  issue  during  preceding  12  months:  3,633.  Actual  number  of 
copies  of  single  issue  published  nearest  to  filing  date:  3,672.  F.  Copies 
not  distributed.  1.  Office  use,  left  over,  unaccounted  for,  spoiled  after 
printing.  Average  number  of  copies  of  each  issue  during  preceding  12 
months:  1,117.  Actual  number  of  copies  single  issue  published  nearest 
to  filing  date:  1,328.  2.  Return  from  news  agents.  Average  number  of 
copies  each  issue  during  preceding  12  months:  None.  Actual  number  of 
copies  of  single  issue  published  nearest  to  filing  date:  None.  G.  Total. 
Average  number  of  copies  each  issue  during  preceding  12  months: 
4,750.  Actual  number  of  copies  of  single  issue  published  nearest  to  fil- 
ing date:  5,000.  11.  I certify  that  the  statements  made  by  me  above  are 
correct  and  complete.  Edmund  A.  Schofield,  Editor. 


mm 


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Spring  1987 


l \ S uriAY  HERBARIUM 

JUL  6 1987 


Volume  47  Number  2 Spring  1987 

Arnoldia  (ISSN  0004-26 33;  USPS  866-100)  is 
published  quarterly,  in  winter,  spring,  summer,  and 
fall,  by  the  Arnold  Arboretum  of  Harvard  University. 

Subscriptions  are  $12.00  per  calendar  year 
domestic,  $15.00  per  calendar  year  foreign, 
payable  in  advance.  Single  copies  are  $3.50.  All 
remittances  must  be  in  U.  S.  dollars,  by  check  drawn 
on  a U.  S.  bank  or  by  international  money  order. 

Send  subscription  orders,  remittances,  change-of- 
address  notices,  and  all  other  subscription-related 
communications  to:  Helen  G.  Shea,  Circulation 
Manager,  Arnoldia,  The  Arnold  Arboretum, 

Jamaica  Plain,  MA  02130-2795. 

Postmaster:  Send  address  changes  to: 

Arnoldia 

The  Arnold  Arboretum 
Jamaica  Plain,  MA  02130-2795. 

Copyright  © 1987,  The  President  and  Fellows  of 
Harvard  College. 

Edmund  A.  Schofield,  Editor 

Peter  Del  Tredici,  Associate  Editor 

Helen  G.  Shea,  Circulation  Manager 

Marion  D.  Cahan,  Editorial  Assistant  (Volunteer) 

Arnoldia  is  printed  by  the  Office  of  the  University 
Publisher,  Harvard  University. 


Front  cover:  Arissema  sikokianum,  a Japanese  rela- 
tive of  the  jack-in-the-pulpit  of  North  America.  Photo- 
graphed in  the  garden  of  H.  Lincoln  Foster  in  May 
1979  by  Jennifer  H.  Hicks.  Courtesy  of  the 
photographer.  ( See  page  2.)  Opposite:  The  large- 
flowering,  or  showy,  trillium  ( Trillium  grandiflorum ) 
in  flower  at  the  Garden  in  the  Woods,  Framingham, 
Massachusetts.  During  April  and  May,  twenty-two 
kinds  of  trilliums  bloom  along  trails  in  the  Garden. 
Photograph  by  John  A.  Lynch.  Courtesy,  the  New 
England  Wild  Flower  Society.  ( See  page  16.)  This 
page:  Robert  Nicholson  collects  seeds  on  Mount 
Asahi  during  his  recent  trip  to  Japan  [top]  and  David 
Longland  works  in  the  meadow  garden  at  the  Gar- 
den in  the  Woods,  Framingham,  Massachusetts.  Pho- 
tographed by  Robert  G.  Nicholson  and  John  A. 
Lynch,  respectively.  (See  pages  2 and  16.)  Inside 
back  cover:  Professor  Kingo  Miyabe,  professor  of 
botany  at  the  Agricultural  College,  Sapporo,  Japan. 
Photographed  by  Ernest  H.  Wilson  in  June  1914. 
From  the  Archives  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum.  Back 
cover:  Lysichiton  americanum  flowering  in  the  New 
York  Botanical  Garden.  Photographed  by  Judy  Glatt- 
stein.  Courtesy  of  the  photographer.  (See  page  27.) 


Page 

2 Eight  Views  of  Nippon 
Robert  G.  Nicholson 


16  Cultivating  Native  Plants:  The  Possibilities 
Susan  Stoier 


20  Cultivating  Native  Plants:  The  Legal 
Pitfalls 

Linda  R.  McMahan 

25  Native-Plant  Societies  in  the  United  States 

27  Hardy  Aroids  in  the  Garden 
Judy  Glattstein 

35  BOOKS 


Eight  Views  of  Nippon 

Robert  G.  Nicholson 

Visiting  ancient  gardens  in  Tokyo  and  mountaintops  on  Hokkaido  and 
Honshu,  temple  gardens  and  national  parks,  and  far-northern  islets,  a 
botanical  pilgrim  finds  the  whole  of  Japan  to  be  one  vast  “green  Mecca" 


To  travel  in  a country  as  botanically  rich  and 
as  horticulturally  storied  as  Japan  was  a goal 
I had  carried  for  years.  Now,  after  my  recent 
first  visit  to  that  green  Mecca,  I realize  what 
an  open-ended  ambition  it  was,  for  I could 
never  have  found  all  of  the  native  species  I 
sought  or  visited  all  the  gardens  worth  seeing 
during  my  three- week  stay  in  Japan. 

Of  all  the  world's  countries,  Great  Britain 
and  Japan  have  attained  the  greatest  promi- 
nence in  horticulture.  Their  peoples  nurture 
a deep  love  of  plants,  and  neither  will  tolerate 
an  excuse  not  to  garden.  After  all,  one  can 
always  garden  in  a window  box  or  single  pot, 
as  city  dwellers  of  both  countries  often  do. 

Great  Britain  presents  the  "garden 
crawler"  with  the  dilemma  of  choice,  for 
there  are  scores  of  first-rate  botanic  gardens, 
parks,  and  cottage  gardens  to  decide  among.  A 
visitor  to  Japan  faces  a similar  problem,  but 
has  a compounding  problem  as  well:  com- 
pared to  Britain  or  even  the  eastern  United 
States,  Japan  has  a staggeringly  diverse  native 
flora,  one  that  still  contributes  new  and  un- 
tried plants  to  horticulture,  ranging  from  al- 
pines  to  tropicals,  a flora  that  makes  Japan 
one  of  the  greatest  "natural  gardens"  on 
earth. 

In  September  of  1986,  I had  the  good  for- 
tune of  going  to  Japan,  to  collect  plants  for  the 


Opposite:  A yukimi  lantern  in  the  Rikugi-en  Garden, 
Tokyo.  All  photographs  accompanying  this  article  were 
taken  by  the  author. 


Arnold  Arboretum.  Although  I undertook  the 
trip  primarily  to  collect  woody  plants,  Gary 
Roller,  the  Arboretum's  managing  horticul- 
turist, did  draw  up  a list  of  targeted  rare 
species  for  me  before  I left. 

During  the  course  of  the  three  weeks,  I 
collected  from  eighteen  sites,  about  half  of 
them  mountains  in  the  range  of  six  thousand 
to  nine  thousand  feet  (approximately  l,800to 
2,750  m).  I visited  three  of  the  four  main 
islands  of  Japan  and,  between  bursts  of  col- 
lecting, visited  some  of  the  fabled  gardens 
created  during  the  fifteen  hundred  years  of 
Japanese  landscaping. 

After  landing  at  Tokyo's  Narita  Airport,  I 
needed  to  spend  a day  or  two  in  Tokyo  adjust- 
ing to  the  ten-hour  difference  in  time.  Tokyo, 
formerly  called  Edo,  is  the  present  capital  of 
Japan  but  was  not  a city  of  importance  until 
1863,  when  it  became  the  new  capital.  It  does 
have  some  fine  gardens  but  none  with  the 
long  and  time-worn  elegance  of  those  in  Nara, 
Japan's  first  capital,  or  of  those  in  Kyoto,  long 
the  seat  of  Japanese  culture. 

Even  though  my  visit  did  not  come  at  the 
best  time  for  viewing  gardens,  a number  of 
gardens  were  recommended  to  me.  One  in 
particular — Rikugi-en — stood  out. 

I:  Rikugi-en,  the  Garden  of  Poetry 
Rikugi-en  is  literally  called  the  Garden  of 
Poetry,  Rikugi  signifying  the  six  classifica- 
tions of  poetry  in  Japan  and  China.  Com- 
pleted in  1702,  the  garden  was  designed  by 


4 Eight  Views  of  Nippon 


Yanagisawa  Yoshiyasu,  a minister  of  the 
Shogun.  It  is  a prime  example  of  a circuit 
garden,  with  a main  path  following  the  con- 
tours of  a large  central  lake,  one  that  is  dotted 
with  islands  of  cloud-pruned  black  pine. 
From  this  main  path  a number  of  smaller 
paths  wind  into  the  patches  of  woods  on  the 
edges  of  the  garden,  often  surprising  with 
specimen  plants  or  dappled  views  back  to- 
ward the  central  waters. 

One  outstanding  specimen  was  a large, 
fifteen-foot  (4.5-m)  plant  of  Enkianthus  peru- 
latus,  usually  seen  only  as  a shrub  in  the 
United  States.  The  garden  originated  as  a 
feudal  estate,  but  in  the  1870s  it  came  to  the 
hands  of  a member  of  the  rising  financial 
aristocracy,  a Baron  Iwasaki.  He  respectfully 
restored  the  garden  to  its  original  drawing  and 
descriptions.  In  1938  the  Iwasaki  clan  do- 


Cobblestone  path  in  the  Rikugi-en  Garden,  Tokyo. 


nated  this  fine  garden  to  the  City  of  Tokyo. 

In  addition  to  its  outstanding  plant  materi- 
al, such  as  huge  specimens  of  Ginkgo  biloba 
and  Acer  bueigeranum,  the  garden  features  a 
number  of  quintessentially  Japanese  charac- 
ters. Stone  lanterns  dot  the  garden,  both  the 
tall  Taima-ji  style  and  the  more-squat,  four- 
legged Yukimi  type.  A bridge,  made  of  large, 
ten-foot  slabs  of  stone  take  one  over  a pool 
filled  with  vividly  mottled  koi  and  large 
painted  turtles,  both  creatures  well  settled 
into  their  role  as  the  park's  beggars. 

What  distinguishes  the  garden  is  its  metic- 
ulous upkeep  and  its  balanced  interplay  be- 
tween the  shadowy  woods  and  the  bright 
expanses  of  clipped  lawn.  These  lawns  are 
actually  a recent  feature  in  Japanese  landscap- 
ing, having  been  borrowed  from  the  West 
only  in  the  last  century  or  so.  Upon  the  bright- 
green  lawns  are  positioned  tightly  pruned, 
mounded  plants  of  the  dark-green  Japanese 
black  pine,  Pinus  thunbergiana.  From  across 
the  pond,  these  pines  look  like  large  stones,  or 
even  islands  on  a calm  sea  of  green. 

II:  Daisetsuzan  National  Park 
Given  that  I would  be  a month  in  Japan,  I felt 
it  best  to  start  collecting  in  the  North,  where 
seeds  would  ripen  early,  and  to  work  south- 
ward during  my  stay.  The  first  collecting  was 
to  be  on  Hokkaido,  the  northernmost  big 
island,  in  the  Daisetsuzan  National  Park. 

Before  collecting,  I made  a short,  helpful 
visit  to  the  Sapporo  Botanical  Garden,  long  an 
ally  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum.  In  Sapporo,  I 
was  shown  a row  of  massive  red  oaks  lining  a 
city  street.  Beneath  one  of  the  oaks  was  a sign 
stating  that  the  trees  had  been  started  from 
seed  sent  to  Japan  by  the  Arnold  Arboretum  in 
the  late  1800s!  Since  it  was  the  Garden's  cen- 
tennial year,  I presented  its  director,  Tatsu- 
ichi  Tsujii,  with  gifts  from  the  Arnold  Arbo- 
retum— a Magnolia  virginiana  grown  from 
native  Massachusetts  seed  and  a photograph 
of  Kingo  Miyabe,  the  Garden's  first  director, 


Eight  Views  of  Nippon  5 


which  E.  H.  Wilson  had  taken  during  his  stay 
in  1917. 

Dr.  Tsujii  had  arranged  for  seed-collecting 
permits  for  me,  and  within  a day  I was  on  the 
flanks  of  Mount  Asahi,  at  sixty-two  hundred 
feet  (2,290  m)  Hokkaido's  highest  mountain. 

Mount  Asahi  has  an  excellent  alpine  zone 
that  can  be  reached  by  cable  car,  so  I began 
collecting  in  the  alpine  zone  and  walked  my 
way  down.  At  fifty-three  hundred  feet  (1,620 
m)  was  a series  of  small  alpine  ponds  around 
which  grew  Geum  pentapetalum,  Empetrum 
nigrum  var.  japonicum,  Bryanthus  gmelinii, 
Phyllodoce  aleutica,  and  Rhododendron  au- 
reum.  This  last  species  is  a prostrate  dwarf 
with  pale-yellow  flowers.  Prior  attempts 
with  the  plant  in  Boston  have  proven  unsuc- 
cessful. Perhaps  the  cooler  summers  in  such 
places  as  Maine  would  mimic  its  native  cli- 
mate better  than  that  of  Boston. 

The  larger  shrubby  species  in  this  area 
were  limited  to  Pinus  pumila,  the  Japanese 
stone  pine,  and  Sorbus  matsumarae,  a bushy 
mountain  ash  with  vivid-red  fall  color.  The 
flora  on  this  mountain  terminates  at  about 


fifty-nine  hundred  feet  (1,800  m),  the  soils 
thereafter  being  affected  by  sulfurous  steam 
from  an  active  band  of  fumaroles. 

Looking  back  down  from  this  height,  I saw 
that  the  ponds  looked  like  chips  of  mirror  set 
into  a clipped  carpet  of  low,  green  plants,  each 
species  contributing  its  own  unique  texture. 

A mile-long  trail  connected  the  upper  ter- 
minus of  the  cable  car  to  the  beckoning  hot- 
spring  spas  below.  As  if  to  further  my  appre- 
ciation of  this  custom,  a drenching  rainstorm 
took  its  cue,  turning  the  path  into  a stream- 
bed. 

Despite  the  rain,  this  trail  offered  some  of 
the  trip's  best  collecting  as  it  connected  al- 
pine, subalpine,  and  boreal  forest  zones  over 
its  short  distance.  At  about  forty-nine 
hundred  feet  (1,500  m),  I collected  Tripetaleia 
bracteata,  a close  relative  of  the  Georgia 
plume,  Elliottia  racemosa.  It  was  growing  at 
a much  higher  elevation  than  I expected. 

About  halfway  down  Mount  Asahi,  in  a 
forest  of  Abies  sachalinensis  and  Picea 
jezoensis,  the  trail  cut  through  a series  of 
level  areas  that  formed  wet  meadows.  There 


Meadow  on  Mount  Asahi,  Daisetsuzan  National  Park. 


6 Eight  Views  of  Nippon 


I found  a daylily,  Hemerocallis  middendoifii, 
a hosta,  Hosta  rectifolia,  and  masses  of  Lysi- 
chyton  camtschatcense,  a member  of  the 
Araceae  with  an  affinity  to  skunk  cabbage. 
With  long,  elliptic,  two-foot  (60-cm)  leaves 
and  an  inflorescence  consisting  of  a yellow 
spadix  subtended  by  a pure- white  spathe,  this 
hardy  plant  would  be  a bold  addition  to 
marshy  plantings  or  pondside  gardens.  I col- 
lected a large  lot  of  seeds  in  the  hope  that  some 
would  germinate. 

Ill:  Rishiri  and  Rebun,  Islands  of  Flowers 
Rishiri  and  Rebun  are  two  islands  that  have 
long  held  a special  fascination  for  plant  lovers. 
They  lie  off  the  northwestern  corner  of 
Hokkaido  and  are  only  fifty  miles  (80  km) 
from  Russia's  Sakhalin  Island.  Rishiri  is  the 


larger  of  the  pair  and  betrays  its  volcanic 
origins  by  its  stunning  profile,  a sharply  ta- 
pered cone  that  rises  fifty-seven  hundred  feet 
(1,749  m)  above  sea  level.  (Imagine,  if  you 
will,  a six  thousand-foot  island  off  the  coast  of 
Boston! ) Access  to  the  islands  is  gained  by  fer- 
ry from  Wakkanai,  an  active  fishing  port.  It  is 
a beautiful,  bracing  ride,  brimming  with  Japa- 
nese tourists  eager  to  visit  the  Islands  of 
Flowers. 

The  two  islands  are  most  noted  for  their 
high  number  of  endemic  species,  particularly 
of  woodland  and  alpine  plants.  Since  it  is  a 
prime  collecting  area,  permits  are  limited  to 
few  seed  collectors,  but  I was  able  to  arrange 
permission  through  the  gracious  efforts  of  the 
Sapporo  Botanic  Garden. 

To  reach  the  summit  from  the  port  takes 


The  alpine  zone  of  Rishiri  Island. 


Eight  Views  of  Nippon  7 


five  to  six  hours  of  brisk  walking.  As  with  any 
rapid  change  in  elevation,  the  floral  diversity 
also  changes  quickly,  and  a good  selection  of 
material  can  be  acquired  in  a day  or  two. 

In  the  lowest  zone  of  the  island  is  found  a 
mixed  forest  of  deciduous  trees  such  as  Acer 
mono  var.  mayrii,  Corylus  heterophylla, 
Ulmus  davidiana  var.  japonica,  and  Phel- 
lodendron  amurense  intermingling  with 
Picea  glehnii  and  Picea  jezoensis.  Two  of  the 
better  collections  were  Magnolia  hypoleuca, 
a plant  related  to  our  native  Magnolia 
macrophylla,  Magnolia  tripetala,  and  Mag- 
nolia ashei,  along  with  Skimmia  japonica 
var.  repens,  a low-growing  shrub  of  the  citrus 
family  found  growing  in  the  dense  shade  of  a 
Picea  forest.  As  I continued  upward,  the  ter- 
rain became  steeper,  and  the  woody  flora 
became  more  stunted.  After  passing  through 
a belt  of  Abies  sachalinensis  intermixed  with 
Betula  ermanii,  the  woody  flora  diminished 
in  size  and  frequency. 

The  upper  third  of  the  mountain  is  domi- 
nated by  two  species — Pinus  pumila,  the 


Japanese  stone  pine,  and  Sasa  kurilensis,  a 
waist-high,  thin-stalked  bamboo  that  forms 
massive,  impenetrable  pure  stands. 

The  pine  is  one  of  the  Japanese  plants 
which  I found  most  interesting,  as  it  is  a 
natural  dwarf,  rarely  growing  more  than 
seven  feet  (2.1  m)high.  It  tends  to  form  dense- 
ly branched,  impenetrable  stands  and  is  gen- 
erally the  last  conifer  seen  before  reaching  the 
alpine  zone.  Its  range  is  from  mid-Honshu 
northward  and  varies  greatly  in  its  attitudinal 
distribution.  E.  H.  Wilson  reported  it  from  ten 
thousand,  six  hundred  feet  (3,250  m)  on 
Honshu,  but  Yushun  Kudo  wrote  that  it  oc- 
curred at  sea  level,  growing  in  sand  dunes  on 
Russia's  frigid  Sakhalin  Island.  Here  it  grows 
on  the  sea  beaches  and  their  immediate  vicin- 
ity in  association  with  such  plants  as  Em- 
petrun  nigrum,  Vaccinium  vitis-idsea,  Loise- 
leuria  procumbens , Linnxa  borealis,  Artem- 
isia norvegica,  and  Fritillaria  camtschat- 
censis.  Wilson  also  reported  that  cones  were 
rarely  found,  and  this  was  true.  The  cones 
evidently  are  carried  away  by  squirrels  and 


Sasa  sp.  on  Rishiri  Island. 


Pinus  pumila  (right)  and  Sasa  sp.  on  Rishiri  Island. 


8 Eight  Views  of  Nippon 


other  rodents,  as  I saw  numerous  seedlings  in 
clumps,  indicating  that  the  animals  probably 
store  the  seeds. 

The  foliage  of  Pinus  pumila  ranges  from 
blue-green  to  grey-blue,  and  one  cultivar, 
'Dwarf  Blue',  is  a fine  dark  blue.  Because  of 
the  density  of  these  attractive  needles,  the 
low  spreading  architecture,  its  hardiness 
(Zone  3),  and  its  possible  salt  tolerance,  Pinus 
pumila  would  seem  to  be  an  ideal  plant  for 
foundation,  seaside,  or  mass  plantings.  It  is, 
unfortunately,  rarely  found  in  nursery  cata- 
logs because  its  seeds  are  scarce  and  because 
it  is  difficult  to  graft. 

Beyond  the  Pinus  pumila-Sasa  zone, 
Rishiri's  craggy  peak  is  home  to  a varied 
alpine  flora.  Sedum  cauticolum,  Rhododen- 
dron camtschaticum,  Oxytropis  rishiriensis, 
Achillea  alpina,  and  a ground-hugging  spe- 
cies of  Salix  I've  yet  to  identify  grow  among 
the  rocks  in  chunky,  volcanic  soil.  By  the 
time  one  reaches  this  zone  it  becomes  appar- 


ent that  Rishiri  cannot  be  done  in  a day. 
Climbing  time  up  and  back  down  takes  at 
least  eight  hours,  and  there  are  many  plants  to 
consider  along  the  way.  As  it  turned  out,  I 
stayed  too  long  at  the  top  and  had  to  travel  the 
downward  path  through  Rishiri's  black  sil- 
houette forest  by  the  light  of  a poet's  moon. 

IV:  Ryoan-ji  Temple  Garden 
Half  a dozen  landmarks — "must  sees" — 
usually  are  indelibly  linked  to  a country,  and 
failure  to  visit  at  least  one  of  them  is  a 
traveller's  sacrilege.  A visit  to  one  of  these 
well  worn  stops  is  likely  to  produce  mixed 
feelings:  you  feel  part  of  a herd  and  often  have 
a sense  of  deja  vu,  having  seen  the  attraction 
a hundred  times  in  photographs.  Ryoan-ji 
Temple  in  Kyoto  is  such  a site.  This  famous 
garden,  composed  only  of  five  groupings  of 
fifteen  stones  set  in  a flat  expanse  of  raked 
sand,  has  stretched  the  definition  of  "garden" 
for  five  centuries. 


The  garden  at  Ryoan-ji  Temple. 


Eight  Views  of  Nippon  9 


The  garden  dates  from  the  Muromachi 
Period  ( 1394-1572)  and  is  the  premier  exam- 
ple of  a particularly  Japanese  style  of  garden, 
the  Karesansui,  or  Dry  Landscape.  Gardens  of 
this  style  represent  streams,  lakes,  shallows, 
and  rivers  by  suggestion,  using  coarse  sand, 
pebbles,  and  stone  to  define  an  imaginary 
body  of  water.  The  style  had  its  beginnings  in 
the  Kamakura  Period  ( 1 1 86-1335)  but  usually 
as  part  of  a greater  garden  scheme.  It  was  not 
until  the  middle  of  the  Muromachi  Period 
that  dry  gardens  stood  as  singular,  separate 
entities,  made  to  be  viewed  from  one  spot, 
usually  a raised  veranda,  and  with  entry  into 
the  space  restricted.  Dry  gardens  were  con- 
structed as  aids  to  meditation,  as  sources  of 
inspiration  for  the  monks  of  the  Temple. 

Ryoan-ji  probably  was  built  late  in  the 
Fifteenth  Century.  Its  designer  is  still  a sub- 
ject of  scholarly  debate,  although  the  name  of 
Soami,  a painter  and  tea  master,  usually 
comes  to  the  fore.  It  is  often  thought  that  the 
stark  black-and-white  paintings  of  the  Sung 
Period  in  China,  of  which  Japanese  painters  of 
the  time  were  aware,  may  have  inspired  this 
minimalist  trend  in  garden  architecture. 

The  garden  is  a part  of  a large  temple 
complex  set  on  the  side  of  a verdant  hill  in 
northwestern  Kyoto.  As  it  is  the  main  attrac- 
tion, a steady  flow  of  tourists  is  directed  by 
signs  through  the  temple  grounds  to  the  gar- 
den. Although  some  writers  suggest  that  the 
garden  is  best  viewed  during  early  morning, 
when  wet  and  misted,  I found  it  equally  satis- 
fying in  the  bright,  clear  sun.  Incredibly,  and 
only  in  this  retreat  garden,  a loudspeaker  sys- 
tem was  barking  a quick  taped  explanation  of 
Zen  tranquillity  to  tourists  in  Japanese.  No 
better  symbol  of  modern  Japan  could  be 
found. 

The  garden's  design  is  inexplicably  power- 
ful and  produced  within  me  feelings  of  tran- 
quillity and  wonder.  Its  stones  rest  in  five 
groups  (five  and  two  to  the  left  half;  three, 
two,  and  three  to  the  right),  but  the  placement 


within  the  rectangular  bed  is  so  perfectly 
wrought  an  impenetrable  harmony  results.  It 
is  probably  one  of  the  few  gardens  in  the  world 
that  resists  second  guessing.  The  only  plants 
that  "intrude"  into  this  garden  design  are  the 
moss  that  has  established  itself  at  the  base  of 
each  grouping  and  the  treetops  that  rise  be- 
yond the  buff  brown,  tile-topped  walls.  Nei- 
ther was  part  of  the  original  design.  If  we 
define  a garden  as  a place  of  plants,  then 
Ryoan-ji  barely  qualifies.  It  seems  to  be  the 
progenitor  of  the  current  concept  of  "environ- 
mental sculpture"  or  of  sculpture  gardens. 
For  comparison,  I would  offer  Carl  Andre's 
"Stone  Field  Sculpture"  in  Hartford,  Con- 
necticut. Built  in  1977,  it  consists  of  thirty- 
six  ordered  boulders  on  a triangular  plot  and 
was  met  with  outrage  when  "unveiled."  It 
stands  more  as  an  abstraction,  perhaps  sym- 
bolizing islands  on  a sea,  a floating  world. 
Today's  landscape  architects  who  strive  to 
expand  the  concept  of  garden  should  look  to 
the  five  hundred-year-old  Ryoan-ji  before  pro- 
claiming too  loudly  their  new  "minimalist 
concepts." 

V:  Ritsurin  Garden 

The  port  city  of  Takamatsu,  situated  on  the 
large  southern  island  of  Shikoku,  is  the  locale 
of  Ritsurin,  one  of  Japan's  finest  gardens. 
Composed  of  a network  of  strolling  paths 
interwoven  through  a system  of  streams  and 
ponds,  Ritsurin  is  a prime  example  of  the 
Kaiya-shiki  type  of  circuit  landscape  garden- 
ing. It  offers  a constant  unveiling  of  views 
both  intimate  and  expansive. 

Ritsurin  is  a comparatively  recent  garden, 
having  been  constructed  over  a span  of  eighty 
years  starting  in  the  late  Seventeenth  Cen- 
tury, during  Japan's  Edo  Period  (1603-1867). 
The  Edo  Period  was  a time  of  relative  prosper- 
ity and  peace  during  which  the  feudal  lords 
vied  for  honor  among  themselves  through  the 
quality  of  the  grounds  surrounding  their 
castles.  Ritsurin  was  such  a place.  It  was 


10  Eight  Views  of  Nippon 


Ritsurin  Garden,  one  of  Japan's  finest.  Two  hundred  years  old,  it  is  located  in  Takamatsu,  a port  city  on  the  large  southern 
island  of  Shikoku. 


started  by  Takatoshi  Ikoma,  the  Lord  of 
Sanuki,  but  eventually  came  to  Yorishige 
Matsudaira,  the  first  Lord  of  Takamatsu.  His 
clan  controlled  the  garden  for  the  next  two 
hundred  twenty-eight  years,  until  1875, 
when  it  became  a public  park  after  the  Em- 
peror Meiji  issued  a proclamation  encourag- 
ing such  conversions. 

The  object  of  the  garden's  design  is  not  un- 
like the  Gardenesque  style  championed  in 
the  late  1700s  by  the  Englishman  Humphrey 
Repton.  Both  seek  to  incorporate  a variety  of 
plant  material — arborescent,  shrub,  and  per- 
ennial— into  a design  embracing  natural 
forms  rather  than  constricting  them  into 
contrived  geometrical  patterns. 

It  is  a representation  of  nature,  following 
the  example  of  the  local  regional  scenery  but 
constructed  with  considerable  poetic  li- 
cense. The  viewer  feels  that  he  is  walking 


through  a dark  woodland  in  some  sections, 
while  in  others  the  vista  presented  imitates 
the  view  from  a high  hill  or  mountain.  Water 
and  views  across  water  are  major  features  of 
the  garden,  with  six  major  ponds  and  numer- 
ous streams  incorporated  into  the  design. 
Sited  between  two  ponds  is  Kikugetsu-tei,  an 
expertly  crafted  teahouse  that  dates  from  the 
feudal  period.  Visitors  are  allowed  to  unshoe 
and  take  tea,  and  while  sipping,  it  was  a 
dilemma  to  choose  between  studying  the 
beautiful  craftsmanship  of  the  building  or  the 
view  of  the  rocks  and  ponds  outside  the  slid- 
ing panels. 

The  finest  view  of  Ritsurin,  and  one  of  the 
best  in  any  Japanese  garden  today,  is  from  the 
top  of  a small,  manmade  hill  in  the  southeast- 
ern corner  of  the  garden.  One  looks  over  the 
tops  of  manicured  black  pines  ( Pinus  thun- 
beigii)  across  the  breadth  of  Southern  Pond.  It 


Eight  Views  of  Nippon  1 1 


is  bisected  early  on  by  a simple  yet  stately 
arched  wooden  bridge.  The  ends  of  this  bridge 
are  attended  by  finely  cloud-pruned  pine, 
making  it  look  as  though  it  were  rising  from 
the  mists.  Looking  beyond  the  bridge,  one 
sees  a small  island  dotted  with  clusters  of 
mound-pruned  azalea:  plants  imitating  stone 
formations.  As  the  pond  narrows,  the  eye  is 
drawn  farther,  on  to  a formation  of  three  rocks 
rising  from  the  surface  of  the  waters,  looking 
like  far-distant  islands.  The  water's  end  is 
sited  with  a specimen  tree  of  Pinus  parvi flora 
and  the  simple,  minimal,  refined  teahouse. 
The  gaze  is  finally  drawn  past  the  pond,  past 
the  teahouse,  to  the  slopes  of  Mount  Shiun, 
whose  flanks  come  sharply  down  to  the 
garden's  edge.  The  pine-covered  hill  appears 
as  a virtual  curtain  of  boughs. 

It  is  a masterfully  constructed  composi- 
tion, one  that  successfully  draws  the  eye 
across  the  entire  expanse  of  the  garden,  past 
its  boundaries,  up  the  side  of  the  mountain  to 
the  sky  above.  This  view  of  Ritsurin  is  a prime 
example  of  shakkei,  "borrowed  scenery"  or 


"captured  landscape."  The  designer  con- 
sciously frames  and  incorporates  a distant 
view  into  the  design  of  the  garden.  This  nul- 
lifies the  feeling  of  garden  boundaries  and 
gives  Ritsurin  the  feeling  of  an  unbounded 
piece  of  heaven. 

VI:  Mount  Tsurugi 

From  Takamatsu  I continued  eastward  by  rail 
to  Tokushima,  a city  renowned  in  Japan  for 
Awa  Odori,  a festival  of  crazy  dances.  Want- 
ing to  get  into  the  interior  mountains,  I in- 
quired about  transportation.  On  the  advice  of 
the  local  tourist  bureau,  I boarded  a train  line 
which  paralleled  the  Yoshino  River,  with  in- 
structions to  disembark  at  Waki.  Here  a con- 
necting bus  into  the  mountains  could  be 
caught.  Language  barriers  prevented  my  un- 
derstanding that  this  bus  would  take  me  only 
half  way,  and  that  a surprised  hitchhiker 
would  be  deposited  in  sparsely  settled  hill 
country.  A few  rides  with  local  truck  drivers 
took  us  over  switchbacks  that  squirmed 
upward.  One  driver  was  a small  fellow  of  five 


The  view  from  Mount  Tsurugi.  The  windswept  tree  probably  is  a species  of  Tsuga. 


12  Eight  Vi ews  of  Nippon 


feet  and  one  hundred  pounds,  but  he  sped  his 
ten-ton  truck  forward  with  an  infective  con- 
fidence. The  terrain  was  extremely  steep  and 
heavily  forested  with  Cryptomeria  japonica, 
which,  when  harvested,  was  transported 
down  the  sharp  slopes  on  a cable  system. 

During  one  layover  between  rides,  I was 
happy  to  find  Acer  caipinifolium,  an  odd 
maple  with  an  elliptic  leaf  like  that  of  iron- 
wood.  I also  found  Hydrangea  sikokiana,  a 
shrub  with  highly  incised  leaves. 

One  final  ride  took  me  to  the  village  at  the 
base  of  Mount  Tsurugi,  at  sixty-four  hundred 
feet  (1,956  m)  Shikoku's  second-highest 
mountain.  As  it  offers  a three  hundred  sixty- 
degree  view,  it  is  a popular  hiking  spot  and  as 
is  often  the  case  in  Japan,  this  popularity  is 
confirmed  by  the  presence  of  a convenient 
chair  lift  up  a good  portion  of  the  mountain. 
My  primary  goal  on  this  peak  was  Abies 
vietchii,  the  common  fir  of  central  Honshu,  a 
species  whose  taxonomy  is  a bit  muddled.  It 
grows  in  the  subalpine  zone  with  such  species 
as  Tsuga  diversifolia  and  Abies  mariesii. 

On  Shikoku,  however,  a short-needle  var- 
iant occurs  that  some  botanists  regard  as 
Abies  shikokianum,  the  Shikoku  fir.  Regard- 
less of  its  proper  designation,  it  is  one  of  the 
most  southerly  populations  of  fir  in  Japan  and 
may  be  of  use  in  our  southern  states,  as  well 
as  in  New  England. 

The  mountain's  chair  lift,  refuge  of  the 
tired  and  lazy,  gives  a subtle  punishment  to 
plant  collectors.  You  are  sped  by  plants,  cov- 
ered with  seed,  a mere  two  meters  below  your 
feet.  Passed  over  were  Hemerocallis,  Rhodo- 
dendron, and — to  the  side — massive  trees  of 
Kalopanax  pictus. 

Once  off  the  lift,  I began  walking  upward 
through  the  narrow  subalpine  forest.  Here 
were  such  trees  as  Fagus  crenata,  Tsuga 
sieboldii,  Pinus  pentaphylla,  and  the  Shiko- 
ku fir.  Its  black-purple  cones  were  easy  to 
spot,  and  in  a short  while  I had  made  a good 
collection  of  seeds. 


The  path  in  Koiaku-en,  the  Lord  of  Okayama's  stroll 
garden  on  Honshu  Island. 


Beneath  the  trees  grew  such  plants  as 
Deutzia  gracilis  and  Spiraea  blumei  var.  pu- 
bescens.  Bamboos  growing  there  included 
Sasa  ishizuchiensis  and  Sasa  hirtella. 

As  I neared  the  top  of  the  mountain  the 
trees  became  stunted  and  windblown,  often 
assuming  a flat-topped,  leaning  posture.  Sil- 
very white  spires,  the  remains  of  long-dead 
trees,  stood  as  monuments  to  a lost  battle 
against  cold  and  wind. 

The  summit  itself  was  a broad  dome  cov- 
ered only  by  short  bamboos  and  grasses.  From 
here  I could  see  the  terrain  I had  crossed — 
sharp  ridge  upon  sharp  ridge,  looking  like 
walls  thrown  up  to  hold  the  island's  secrets 
from  intruders. 

VII:  Koraku  Garden 

Departing  the  island  of  Shikoku,  I ferried 
again  to  the  main  island,  Honshu,  for  a last 
few  days  of  collecting,  but  before  returning  to 


Eight  Views  of  Nippon  13 


The  Crow  Castle  of  Ikeda  Tsunamasa,  Lord  of 
Okayama.  Koraku-en  Garden  was  constructed  across 
the  river  from  the  castle,  beginning  in  1687. 

the  woods  I visited  one  final  garden.  Koraku- 
en,  in  the  city  of  Okayama,  is  said  to  be  one  of 
Japan's  three  best  large  gardens.  Like  Rit- 
surin,  it  dates  from  the  feudal  era,  having  been 
originally  started  by  Ikeda  Tsunamasa,  the 
Lord  of  Okayama,  in  1687.  The  garden  was 
constructed  across  the  river  from  his  distinc- 
tive black  castle,  The  Crow  Castle,  and  was 
reached  by  footbridge.  It  was  intended  as  a 
"stroll  garden,"  but  incorporated  into  the 
expansive  design  were  many  intimate  beauty 
spots  and  pavilions  for  tea  and  composing 
poetry. 

The  overall  effect  of  the  garden  is  one  of 
sunny  openness,  with  most  large  trees  or 
dense  plantings  confined  to  the  edges,  while 
the  central  portions  consist  of  large  expanses 


of  lawn  or  low  plantings  of  rice.  As  with  most 
Japanese  gardens  of  this  size,  ponds  and 
streams  are  a major  design  device,  the  ponds 
offering  us  long,  open  views,  the  streams  al- 
lowing for  a playful  interplay  of  path  and 
water. 

Though  impressed  by  many  of  the  longer 
views,  I was  more  taken  by  certain  features  of 
the  garden  than  by  the  overall  design  itself.  A 
favorite  was  a simple  eight-plank  bridge  [yat- 
suhashi ) over  a small  marsh  of  irises.  Each 
plank  intersected  the  next  at  a different  angle, 
so  that,  in  crossing  the  zigzag,  you  were  pre- 
sented with  eight  fresh  views  of  the  surround- 
ing garden.  Simple,  ingenious,  and  playful,  it 
also  created  a linear  interplay  with  the  irises 
below — a flat,  simple,  abstract  framing  de- 
vice contrasting  with  the  fresh  green,  vertical 
leaves. 

Stone  lanterns,  originally  a functional  fix- 
ture of  tea  gardens,  were  used  frequently  in 
other  style  gardens  as  well,  often  simply  for 
decoration.  At  Koraku-en,  one  oddly  shaped 
lantern  caught  my  attention.  Rather  than 
having  a tall  column  with  a square,  light 
compartment,  this  lantern  was  a squat,  hol- 
low, stone  circle  set  on  two  legs  and  topped 
with  a hat-like  triangular  roof.  Set  onto  lawn 
alongside  a crystal,  serpentine  stream,  I could 
only  imagine  the  beautiful  scene  at  night, 
with  the  light  of  the  lantern  gilding  the 
water's  ripples  and  its  enigmatic  outline 
aglow  from  a distance. 

One  tree  I was  excited  to  see  on  the 
garden's  edge  was  Toney  a nucifera,  an  un- 
common conifer  of  the  yew  family.  It  is  a lrage 
evergreen  tree,  more  pyramidal  in  habit  than 
yew  but  with  the  same  overall  texture.  Its 
needles,  though,  unlike  those  of  Taxus,  have 
sharp,  piercing  tips.  Some  species  of  Toney  a 
are  native  to  Florida  and  California,  but  their 
seeds  are  rarely  available.  This  specimen  was 
well  endowed  with  seeds,  half  a pound  of 
which  I gathered  for  propagation  trials. 


1 4 Eigh  t Views  of  Nippon 


VIII:  Mount  Yatsugadake 
A final  field  day  was  spent  in  the  Japanese 
Alps  of  central  Honshu.  I had  come  to  one 
mountain  complex  in  particular,  Mount 
Yatsugadake,  in  order  to  collect  seeds  of  two 
rare  spruces,  Picea  maximowiczii  and  Picea 
koyami.  Up  to  this  point  I had  been  disap- 
pointed by  the  general  seed-set  in  Japan  that 
fall,  but  on  this  mountain  I was  to  find  a 
multitude  of  plants  with  good  seed-set. 

These  two  spruces  are  currently  in  the 
Arboretum's  collection  but  date  from  a 1917 
collection  by  E.  H.  Wilson.  I had  hoped  to  get 
some  fresh  seed  to  rejuvenate  our  holdings  of 
these  uncommon  species.  A well  defined  trail 
was  crowded  with  Japanese  hikers,  all  dressed 
in  gear  that  reflected  the  seriousness  with 
which  they  approached  hiking. 

The  lower  reaches  of  the  mountain  yielded 


Pinus  pumila  and  Empetrum  sp.  on  Mount  Yatsuga- 
dake. 


seeds  of  a number  of  interesting  perennials 
and  deciduous  trees.  I found  a species  of 
Hosta  and  a species  of  Halenia,  as  well  as  one 
of  Hemerocallis.  Many  of  the  perennials  will 
have  to  be  grown  on  for  identification,  as 
most  keys  rely  on  floral  characteristics.  Acer 
japonicum  and  an  azalea,  Rhododendron  ja- 
ponicum,  also  appeared  in  this  vegetation 
zone,  along  with  Lindera  obtusiloba,  a spice- 
bush  with  excellent  fall  color. 

I soon  entered  a coniferous  belt  dominated 
by  the  hemlock,  Tsuga  diversifolia,  although 
a solitary  plant  of  Thujopsis  dolobrata,  a 
conifer  endemic  to  Japan,  also  grew  in  this 
zone.  It  was  a low-growing,  spreading  plant 
and  confused  me  at  first,  as  I thought  I had 
found  a heavily  mutated  plant  of  Chamse- 
cyparis  obtusa.  Beneath  the  hemlocks  grew 
plants  of  an  evergreen  rhododendron,  Rhodo- 
dendron metternichii,  and  a member  of  the 
Diapensiaceae,  Shortia  soldanelloides.  The 
only  other  time  I had  seen  Shortia  was  also  in 
a hemlock  grove,  in  Marion,  North  Carolina. 
The  hemlocks  on  Mount  Yatsugadake  began 
to  intermingle  with  Abies  veitchii,  and  here  I 
found  the  only  spruce  I would  see  that  day. 
There  were  only  half  a dozen  plants,  all  less 
than  eight  feet  (2.5  m)  in  height  and  barren  of 
cones.  These  I keyed  out  to  be  Picea  maxi- 
mowiczii. At  one  point,  I was  startled  by  a 
man  with  a basket  and  knife,  a mushroom 
hunter.  Like  mushroom  hunters  everywhere, 
he  was  reluctant  to  let  me  know  what  he  was 
doing,  as  I,  too,  might  be  stalking  the  same 
game. 

I continued  up  through  the  forest  and  broke 
through  the  arborescent  species  onto  a ridge 
of  rocky  pumice,  where  I found  the  shrubby 
Pinus  pumila,  along  with  crowberry  ( Em- 
petrum nigrum  var.  japonicum ) and  a low- 
growingform  of  Vaccinium.  On  the  downside 
of  the  ridge  was  a gorgeous  mossy  forest  of 
firs,  Abies  vietchii  and  Abies  homolepis, 
"underplanted"  with  Rhododendron  metter- 
nichii and  Vaccinium  spp. 


Eight  Views  of  Nippon  15 


. . . And  the  Sight  of  Fuji 
I collected  seeds  and  cones  and  returned  back 
up  to  the  rocky  ridge.  From  these  mountains 
I had  hoped  to  get  a long  view  of  Fuji,  which 
for  the  entire  trip  had  been  obscured  by  fog. 
Hokusai,  the  painter,  had  once  done  a series  of 
woodblocks  titled  "Views  of  Mount  Fuji." 
My  final  mountain  view  of  Japan,  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Fuji,  was  one  of  thick  fog  swirling 
through  groves  of  green  firs  and  blue  stone 
pines. 

I left  the  mountain  never  having  had  my 
own  view  of  Fuji,  yet  I was  not  in  the  least  dis- 
appointed. For  a plant  collector,  I thought,  it 
probably  would  have  been  just  another  view. 


Epilogue 

Many  of  the  seeds  I collected  germinated  very  well,  often 
in  excess  of  our  needs.  To  help  defray  the  costs  of  the 
collecting  trip,  we  are  offering  a selection  of  perennial 
and  woody-plant  seedlings  for  sale  to  Friends  of  the 
Arnold  Arboretum.  Friends  may  obtain  a price  list  by 
sending  a stamped,  addressed  envelope  to: 

Japanese  Seedling  Sale 
The  Dana  Greenhouse 
The  Arnold  Arboretum 
Jamaica  Plain,  MA  02130-2795 


Robert  G.  Nicholson  writes  often  for  Ainoldia  and  other 
horticultural  publications.  When  not  attending  to  his 
duties  in  the  Dana  Greenhouse  or  on  the  grounds  of  the 
Arnold  Arboretum,  he  ranges  the  world  in  search  of 
interesting  plant  materials. 


Corrections 

Through  a lapse  in  proofreading,  the  binomials  of  two  plants  mentioned  in  Richard  Warren's  review  of  Native  and  Cul- 
tivated Conifers  of  Eastern  North  America:  A Guide,  by  Edward  A.  Cope  ( Arnoldia , Volume  47,  Number  1,  Winter  1987, 
pages  27  to  29),  were  misspelled.  The  binomials,  both  of  which  appeared  on  page  27,  are  correctly  spelled  Pin  us  ayacahuite 
and  Cupressus  macrocarpa,  respectively. 


Cultivating  Native  Plants:  The  Possibilities 


Susan  Storer 

If  used  with  due  concern  for  the  well-being  of  their  wild  populations,  native 
species  promise  a wider  choice  of  plants  for  the  gardens  of  North  America 


According  to  some  recent  surveys,  gardening 
has  become  the  national  pastime  of  Ameri- 
cans. Hand  in  hand  with  the  increasing  popu- 
larity of  gardening  has  come  a growing  inter- 
est in  native  plants.  More  and  more  people  are 
visiting  the  Garden  in  the  Woods — which  is 
the  botanical  garden  of  the  New  England  Wild 
Flower  Society  (NEWFS)  in  Framingham, 
Massachusetts — to  enjoy  and  to  learn  about 
the  native  plants  of  North  America,  for  ex- 
ample. Every  day  the  Garden  receives  numer- 
ous requests  for  information  about  native 
plants.  The  general  public  wants  to  know 
how  to  select  wildflowers  for  specific  situ- 
ations, how  to  cultivate  them  successfully, 
and  where  to  buy  seeds  and  plants — as  well  as 
what  to  do  when  wild  populations  of  special 
plants  are  threatened  by  development  proj- 
ects. 

From  professionals  come  different  types  of 
inquiries — conservation  commissioners  seek 
information  about  wetland  species  and  their 
communities  in  order  to  deal  with  the  sticky 
issues  of  wetland  protection  and  replication, 
nurserymen  seek  economical  methods  of  pro- 
pagation and  cultivation  in  order  to  respond 
to  the  increased  demand  for  native  plants  in 
the  landscape  trade,  and  wildlife  biologists 
look  for  information  on  the  behavior  of  native 
plants  under  cultivation,  in  order  success- 
fully to  manage  populations  or  rare  and  en- 
dangered species  in  the  wild.  All  these  re- 
quests for  information  give  a clear  signal  that 
there  is  great  interest  in  the  native  flora. 


Why  Cultivate  Native  Plants? 

At  Garden  in  the  Woods,  growing  native 
plants  reflects  the  vision  of  its  creator,  Will  C. 
Curtis.  "It  is  a wildflower  sanctuary  in  which 
wild  plants  will  be  grown,  their  likes  and 
dislikes  discovered,  and  the  knowledge  so 
gained  eventually  passed  on  in  an  effort  to 
curb  the  wholesale  destruction  of  our  most 
beautiful  natives.  This  is  to  be  my  contribu- 
tion to  conservation."  Promoting  the  conser- 
vation of  native  plants  continues  to  be  the 
main  purpose  of  the  Garden  in  the  Woods. 

The  conservation  message  at  the  Garden  in 
the  Woods  begins  with  the  presentation  of  a 
garden  of  great  beauty.  The  beauty  and  tran- 
quillity that  visitors  to  the  Garden  encounter 
is  a powerful  way  of  gaining  public  interest 
and  support  for  native  plants.  As  a result, 
many  visitors  are  inspired  to  include  the 
native  species  in  their  own  gardens.  Perhaps 
they  become  interested  in  native  species  be- 
cause of  the  great  variety  available  for  their 
gardens,  or  perhaps  because  of  some  deeper 
kind  of  interest  in  or  connection  with  North 
American  wildlings. 

Native  Species  in  the  Home  Garden 
People  are  awakening  to  the  potential  for 
using  native  plants  in  the  home  garden.  While 
the  style  of  Garden  in  the  Woods  is  naturalis- 
tic, native  species  can  be  used  in  any  garden 
situation  or  landscape  style,  from  naturalistic 
to  very  formal.  In  the  garden,  all  plants  have 
their  strong  and  weak  points  regardless  of 


Native  Plants  17 


their  origins — native  or  exotic,  wild  or  culti- 
vated. The  notion  that  native  species  are 
somehow  inferior  to  other  garden  plants,  that 
they  are  ragged  and  weedy  or  fragile,  is  false. 
There  are  hundreds  of  garden- worthy  native 
species  that  are  versatile  in  cultivation  and 
appropriate  in  a variety  of  settings. 

Native  plants  combine  well  with  exotic 
and  cultivated  species.  Visitors  to  the  Garden 
in  the  Woods  are  thrilled  to  see  Japanese  jack- 
in-the-pulpit,  European  ginger,  and  Chinese 
witch  hazel  growing  alongside  their  North 
American  cousins.  Native  species  are  also 
excellent  companions,  even  for  such  familiar 
cultivated  favorites  as  hosta,  astilbe,  and 
bleeding  heart.  The  possibilities  are  endless. 

Cultivating  Native  Plants 
The  basic  culture  of  native  plants  is  no  differ- 
ent from  that  of  any  other  plant.  Some  native 
species  are  very  adaptable  to  a wide  range  of 
conditions,  some  are  very  specific  in  their 
requirements.  In  all  cases,  however,  best  re- 
sults are  achieved  by  choosing  the  right  plant 
for  the  right  place  and  by  paying  close  atten- 
tion to  their  soil,  pH,  moisture,  and  light  re- 
quirements. 

The  best  rule  of  thumb  is  to  plant  wild- 
flowers  in  sites  where  conditions  closely 
match  those  of  their  natural  habitats.  Wood- 
land species  are  probably  the  best  known 
natives  in  cultivation.  Trilliums,  hepaticas, 
wild  ginger,  bloodroot,  and  maidenhair  fern 
all  grow  together  in  rich  wood'lands  in  the 
wild  and  also  make  a great  combination,  both 
culturally  and  aesthetically,  for  a shady  gar- 
den site.  Although  not  as  well  known  as  the 
woodland  species,  there  are  many  sun-loving 
species  from  which  to  choose  for  sunny  bor- 
ders and  meadow  gardens. 

All  native  species,  to  reach  their  full  poten- 
tial under  cultivation,  must  be  provided  the 
same  care  and  attention  as  any  other  garden 
plants.  As  long  as  you  are  gardening  with 
native  plants  and  not  just  naturalizing  or 
managing  plants  in  a natural  setting,  all  the 


Lilium  superbum,  the  Turk’s  lily,  a strong-growing 
native  lily  that  fares  best  in  full  sun  to  light  shade. 
Photographs  by  John  A.  Lynch. 

familiar  tasks  of  fertilizing,  mulching,  prun- 
ing, watering,  and  weeding  are  necessary  for 
success. 

Propagating  Native  Plants 
Closely  associated  with  the  cultivation  of 
native  species  are  the  mysteries  and  intrigues 
of  propagation.  Home  gardeners  can  partici- 
pate in  this  activity  without  a large  invest- 
ment of  materials  and  equipment.  Propaga- 
tion by  seed,  cuttings,  and  division  are  the 
main  methods  used  at  the  Garden  in  the 
Woods.  Many  natives  are  easily  propagated  by 
one  or  more  of  these  methods,  either  outdoors 
during  the  growing  season  or  on  a windowsill 
in  the  winter.  For  some  species,  propagation 
by  seed  is  the  easiest  method,  while  for  oth- 
ers, such  as  forms  of  certain  species  (albinos, 
doubles,  compact  varieties,  etc.),  vegetative 


18  Native  Plants 


Aster  novae-angliae,  the  New  England  aster.  A spectacu- 
lar fall-blooming  species  with  color  forms  ranging  from 
pink  to  deep  purple,  it  does  best  in  sunny  spots. 


propagation  by  cutting  or  division  is  a must 
because  they  usually  do  not  come  true  from 
seed.  While  much  work  remains  to  be  done  to 
unravel  mysteries,  propagation  techniques 
for  many  wild  plants  are  well  documented. 
Excellent  resources  are  available  to  guide  the 
home  gardener  in  these  techniques.  Propaga- 
tion is  not  only  a fascinating  and  rewarding 
activity,  but  one  that  can  provide  a much 
wider  variety  of  material  than  is  readily  avail- 
able in  the  nursery  trade. 

Acquiring  Native  Plants 
As  the  popularity  of  wildflowers  has  in- 
creased, so  has  the  demand  placed  on  the 
nursery  industry  to  provide  them.  Since  wild- 
collection  is  still  the  way  in  which  many 
nurseries  obtain  their  stock,  by  buying  these 
plants  for  our  own  gardens,  we  may  be  con- 


tributing to  their  destruction  in  the  wild. 

Fortunately,  there  is  a way  both  to  enjoy 
native  species  in  the  garden  and  to  conserve 
them  in  the  wild:  to  propagate  them.  Before 
buying  native  plants  from  a nursery,  the 
buyer  should  ask  the  nursery  how  it  acquired 
its  plants  and  buy  only  propagated  material. 
Propagated  plants  have  much  healthier  root 
systems  than  nonpropagated  plants  and  gen- 
erally survive  handling,  with  much  better 
long-term  results.  Many  botanical  gardens, 
native-  plant  societies,  and  nurseries  offer 
seed  for  sale  to  the  home  propagator.  Through 
propagation,  there  is  a great  wealth  to  be 
gained  in  the  garden  and  a great  wealth  to  be 
preserved  in  the  wild. 


Bibliography 

Cultivation 

George  D.  Aiken.  Pioneering  with  Wildflowers.  Wood- 
stock,  Vermont:  Countryman  Press,  1984. 

Oliver  E.  Allen.  Wildf lower  Gardening.  Time-Life  Ency- 
clopedia of  Gardening.  Alexandria,  Virginia: 
Time-Life  Books,  1977 

Brooklyn  Botanic  Garden.  Gardening  with  Wild  Flowers. 
Handbook  No.  38.  Brooklyn,  New  York:  Brooklyn 
Botanic  Garden,  1979. 

Hal  Bruce.  How  To  Grow  Wildflowers  and  Wild  Shrubs 
and  Trees  in  Your  Own  Garden.  New  York:  Alfred 
A.  Knopf,  1976. 

John  Mickel  and  Evelyn  Fiore.  The  Home  Gardener's 
Book  of  Perns.  San  Francisco:  Holt,  Rinehart,  and 
Winston,  1984. 

William  E.  Brumback  and  David  R.  Longland.  Garden  in 
the  Woods  Cultivation  Guide.  Framingham,  Mas- 
sachusetts: New  England  Wild  Flower  Society, 
1986.  61  pages. 

Available  from  the  New  England  Wild  Flower  So- 
ciety (NEWFS),  Hemenway  Road,  Framingham, 
Massachusetts  01701,  for  $6.45,  postpaid. 

Ortho  Books.  Landscaping  with  Wildflowers  and  Native 
Plants.  San  Francisco:  Chevron  Chemical  Com- 
pany, 1984. 

Edwin  F.  Steffek.  The  New  Wildflowers  and  How  To 
Grow  Them.  Portland,  Oregon:  Timber  Press, 
1983. 


arnoidu 


New  England 
Horticultural 
and  Botanical 
Calendar 


(Late  Spring — Summer  1987) 


Announcement  for  the  New  England  Horticultural  Calendar 


Tb: 


From: 


Date: 


Calendar  Editor 
Arnoldia 

The  Arnold  Arboretum 
The  Arborway 
Jamaica  Plain,  MA  02130 


Please  Type,  or  Pnnt  Legibly 


Please  list  the  following  event  in  the  "New  England  Horticultural  Calendar": 


Name,  Title,  or  Brief  Description  of  Event 

Type  of  Event:  □ Exhibit,  □ Conference,  □Lecture,  □ Workshop,  □ Course,  DTour,  □ Other: 


Time,  Day,  and  Date  of  Event 


Location  of  Event,  Including  Street  Address 


□ Preregistration  or  Reservations  Required 

□ No  Charge 

□ Fee  !□  Admission,  □ Registration,  □ TUiuon,  □ Other: I 


Telephone  Number  (Including  Area  Code)  and  Mailing  Address  (Including  Postal  Code)  for  Inquiries  from  the  Public 
□ Supplementary  Information  is  Attached. 


Source  of  Information 

The  person  who  submits  this  announcement  form  should  supply  all  of  the  information  requested  below. 
Forms  lacking  any  of  the  information  requested  cannot  be  considered.  Except  for  the  name  of  the 
sponsoring  organization,  the  information  is  intended  solely  for  the  use  and  convenience  of  the  Calendar 
Editor  and  will  not  be  published. 


Sponsoring  Organization 


Name  of  Person  Submitting  Information  (Typed,  or  Printed  Legibly) 


Address  and  Telephone  Number  of  Person  Submitting  Information 


Signature 


Please  note  that  the  "New  England  Horticultural  Calendar"  is  published  solely  for  the  benefit  of  Amoldia' s readers,  and  that  announcements 
will  be  pnnted  at  the  discretion  of  the  magazine's  editors.  Events  will  be  listed  whenever  possible,  on  a space-available  basis,  but  no 
guarantee  can  be  given  that  an  event  will  be  listed.  The  editors  of  Amoldia  will  take  every  reasonable  precaution  to  ensure  the  accuracy  of 
all  published  announcements.  Clip  and  mail  the  completed  form  to  the  Calendar  Editor  at  the  above  address.  A photocopy  will  be  accepted. 
Deadlines  are  November  20,  February  20,  April  20,  and  July  20  for  the  Winter,  Spring,  Summer,  and  Fall  issues,  respectively. 


The  Arnoldia  Horticultural  and  Botanical  Calendar 


Please  be  sure  to  mention  Arnoldia  whenever  you  attend  an  event  that  was  listed  in  the 
New  England  Horticultural  and  Botanical  Calendar. 


Through  June.  15 

"Flowering  Trees  and  Shrubs:  The  Botanical  Paintings  of 
Esther  Heins."  Arnold  Arboretum.  Selected  paintings  of 
plants  in  the  Arboretum,  from  the  new  (May  1987)  book  of 
the  same  title.  Visitor  Center,  Arnold  Arboretum,  Arbor- 
way, Jamaica  Plain,  MA.  Information:  (617)524-1718. 

Through  August  7 

Hydroponics  Exhibit.  Champion  International  Corpora- 
tion. Demonstration  of  experimental  techniques  for  the 
commercial  cultivation  of  tomatoes,  lettuce,  squash,  and 
other  familiar  crops  in  water,  Styrofoam™  and  plastic  in- 
stead of  soil.  11  a.m.-5  p.m.,  Tuesdays-Saturdays,  The 
Champion  Greenhouse,  One  Champion  Plaza,  Atlantic 
Street  at  Tresser  Boulevard,  Stamford,  CT  06921.  Free. 
Information:  (203)358-6688. 

Through  October  27 

Walks  through  the  Garden  in  the  Woods.  New  England  Wild 
Flower  Society  (NEWFS).  Informal  walks,  led  by  experi- 
enced guides,  through  the  largest  (45  acres)  landscaped  col- 
lection of  wildflowers  in  the  Northeast.  Tuesdays,  10  a.m., 
Garden  in  the  Woods,  Hemenway  Road,  Framingham,  MA. 
Free  with  admission  to  the  Garden.  Information:  NEWFS, 
Hemenway  Road,  Framingham  01701;  (617)877-7630, 

237-4924. 

June  9,  10 

Dedication  and  Public  Opening.  Enid  A.  Haupt  Garden. 
Brief  afternoon  dedication  ceremony  (June  9,  at  a time  to  be 
announced)  and  public  opening  (June  10,  at  7 a.m.)  of  4.2- 
acre  garden  on  the  National  Mall,  Washington,  DC.  Open 
7 a.m.-8  p.m.  daily  through  September  30,  7 a.m.-5:45 
p.m.,  October  1-May  31.  Free.  Information:  Smithsonian 
Institution,  Washington  20560;  (202)357-2627. 

June  13 

Plant  and  Book  Sale.  New  England  Wild  Flower  Society 
(NEWFS).  10  a.m.-2  p.m.,  Garden  in  the  Woods,  Hemen- 
way Road,  Framingham,  MA  01701.  Information:  NEWFS, 
(617)877-7630. 

Rose  Garden  Day.  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society 
(MHS)  and  New  England  Rose  Society.  Tour  of  private  rose 
gardens.  Registration  charge.  10  a.m.-4  p.m.  Information: 
Charlotte  Albers,  MHS,  300  Massachusetts  Avenue,  Boston 
02115;  (617)536-9280. 


Tour  of  Woodstock  Gardens.  Woodstock  Garden  Club.  Self- 
guided  tour  of  over  twenty  gardens  of  great  variety,  featur- 
ing Nineteenth  Century  parterre  and  Italianate  styles.  10 
a.m.-4  p.m.,  Woodstock,  CT.  Fee.  ( Rain  date:  June  14.) 
Information:  Roseland  Cottage,  Post  Office  Box  1846, 
Woodstock  06281,  (203)928-4074. 

Herb  Fair.  Herb  products  for  sale.  Berkshire  Garden  Center 
(BGC).  10  a.m.-4  p.m.,  BGC,  Routes  102  and  183,  Stock- 
bridge,  MA.  Admission  fee.  Lunch  available.  Information: 
BGC,  Post  Office  Box  826,  Stockbridge  01262,  (413)298- 
3926. 

June  17-20 

Annual  Meeting.  American  Association  of  Botanical  Gar- 
dens and  Arboreta.  Chicago  Botanic  Garden,  Chicago,  IL. 
Fee.  Preregistration  required.  Information:  Kris  Jarantoski, 
Chicago  Botanic  Garden,  Post  Office  Box  400,  Glencoe,  IL 
66022-0400,  (312)835-5440. 

June  18 

Spring  Wildflower  Walk.  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Soci- 
ety (MHS).  Tour  of  the  wildflowers  and  naturalized  exotics 
growing  in  Franklin  Park's  woodlands,  meadows,  and 
streams,  led  by  Jim  Gorman.  9-7:30  p.m.  Registration  fee. 
Information:  Charlotte  Albers,  MHS,  300  Massachusetts 

Avenue,  Boston  02115;  (617)536-9280. 

June  20 

New  England  Gardening  Day.  Strawbery  Banke  Museum. 
Plant  sales,  workshops,  demonstrations.  10  a.m.-3  p.m., 
Strawbery  Banke  Museum,  Marcy  Street,  near  Prescott 
Park,  Exit  7 off  1-95,  Portsmouth,  NH.  Admission  charge. 
Information:  (603)433-1100. 

July  9-10 

"Rooftop  Garden  Design."  Graduate  School  of  Design, 
Harvard  University  (GSD).  Course  designed  primarily  for 
architects,  interior  designers,  contractors,  and  developers, 
instructed  by  Theodore  Osmundson  of  San  Francisco.  Field 
trips  will  be  made  to  several  successful  Boston-area  rooftop 
gardens.  9 a.m.-5  p.m.  Registration  fee.  Information:  GSD, 
48  Quincy  Street,  Cambridge,  MA  02138,  (617)495-9340. 

July  10-12 

Antiques  Show  to  benefit  Berkshire  Garden  Center.  10 
a.m.-6  p.m.,  The  Plain  School,  Main  Street,  Stockbridge, 
MA.  Information:  (413)298-3926. 


Meetings  Irregular 

AMERICAN  BEGONIA  SOCIETY  (BUXTON  BRANCH) 

Suburban  Experiment  Station,  241  Beaver  Street,  Waltham,  MA.  Contact:  Wanda 
Macnair  (617)876-1366. 

AMERICAN  FERN  SOCIETY  (SOUTHERN  NEW  ENGLAND  CHAPTER) 

Approximately  monthly,  changing  locations.  Contact:  Peggy  (617)799-5897. 

AMERICAN  GLOXINIA  AND  GESNERIAD  SOCIETY  (NEW  ENGLAND  CHAPTER) 
Approximately  monthly,  1 p.m.,  Suburban  Experiment  Station,  241  Beaver  Street, 
Waltham,  MA.  Contact:  H.  Friedberg  (617)891-9164. 

AMERICAN  HEMEROC ALLIS  SOCIETY  (NEW  ENGLAND  CHAPTER) 

Second  Saturday,  10:30  a.m.-4  p.m..  Suburban  Experiment  Station,  241  Beaver  Street, 
Waltham,  MA.  Location  subject  to  change.  Contact:  Susan  Mahler  (617)878-8039. 
AMERICAN  ROCK  GARDEN  SOCIETY  (NEW  ENGLAND  CHAPTER)  Saturday 
or  Sunday,  February-October  (approximately  monthly,  at  changing  locations).  Contact: 
Helga  Andrews  (617)443-8994. 

IRIS  SOCIETY  OF  MASSACHUSETTS 

September,  November,  January,  and  March.  Contact:  Mrs.  John  H.  Burton,  188 
Sagamore  Street,  South  Hamilton  01982;  (617)468-3646. 

NEW  ENGLAND  HOSTA  SOCIETY,  INC. 

Meetings  irregular,  usually  Sunday,  10  a.m.-2  p.m.,  at  changing  locations.  Contact: 
Mabel-Maria  Herweg,  11  Puritan  Lane,  Dedham,  MA  02026;  (617)326-1939. 


Ongoing  Activities 


Arnold  Arboretum.  The  Arborway,  Jamaica  Plain,  MA  02130-2795.  A 265- 
acre  public  park  of  hardy  trees,  shrubs,  and  vines  from  all  over  the  world, 
many  of  them  from  China  and  Japan.  Open  daily,  sunrise-sunset.  Admission 
free.  Visitor  Center  at  Main  Entrance  open  Tuesday-Sunday,  10  a.m.-4  p.m. 
Exhibits,  slide  show,  public  information,  rest  rooms.  Arboretum  Shop  sells 
books,  postcards,  film,  gift  items,  etc.  Group  van  or  guided  walking  tours  avail- 
able by  appointment.  Driving  permits  issued  to  elderly  or  handicapped, 
Monday-Friday,  9 a.m.-4  p.m.  Information:  (617)524-1718;  recorded  infor- 
mation on  lectures,  events:  524-1717. 

Arnold  Arboretum.  Volunteers  always  needed  to  work  in  every  area,  with  staff 
or  on  independent  projects,  on  the  Living  Collections;  in  the  library,  gift  shop, 
or  herbarium,-  guiding  tours,-  etc.  Volunteers  receive  training  and  other 
benefits.  Contact:  Volunteer  Coordinator,  Arnold  Arboretum,  Jamaica  Plain, 
MA  02130-2795;  (617)524-1718. 

Horticultural  and  Botanical  Calendar.  Published  in  each  issue  of  Amoldia, 
the  quarterly  magazine  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum.  It  serves  organizations  in 
the  New  England  area,  though  events  taking  place  elsewhere  are  often  listed.  A 
standard  form  for  submitting  announcements  accompanies  each  issue  of  the 
Calendar.  Amoldia  invites  your  participation.  Copy  deadlines  are  December 
15,  March  15,  June  15,  and  September  15  for  the  Winter,  Spring,  Summer, 
and  Fall  issues,  respectively.  Mailing  address:  Calendar,  Amoldia,  Arnold 
Arboretum,  Jamaica  Plain,  MA  02130-2795;  information:  (617)524-1718. 
Certificate  in  Gardening  Arts.  Arnold  Arboretum.  Botany  and  horticulture 
courses  on  theories  and  practices  of  good  gardening  (propagation,  main- 
tenance, design,  plant  selection,  plant  systematics,  etc.).  Work  towards  certifi- 
cate may  commence  at  any  time  during  the  year  (some  required  courses  may 
be  entered  only  in  spring).  No  time  limit  for  fulfilling  requirements,  but  final 
project  (required)  will  usually  be  prepared  within  one  year  of  completion  of 
coursework.  Details  and  catalog:  (617)524-1718. 

Margaret  C.  Ferguson  Greenhouses,  Wellesley  College,  Route  135,  Wellesley, 
MA  02181.  Exhibits  of  desert  and  tropical  plants,  ferns,  orchids.  Seasonal  dis- 
plays. Open  daily,  8 a.m.-4:30  p.m.  Guided  tours  available  by  appointment 
Admission  free.  Information:  (617)235-0320,  extension  3094. 

Frederick  Law  Olmsted  National  Historic  Site  ("Fairsted"),  Boston  offices  of 
F.  L.  Olmsted  and  his  two  sons,  surrounded  by  landscaped  grounds.  Open 
Fridays,  Saturdays,  and  Sundays,  10  a.m.-4:30  p.m.  Admission  free.  Group 
tours  by  appointment.  Information:  U.  S.  Department  of  the  Interior, 
National  Park  Service,  99  Warren  Street,  Brookline,  MA  02146;  (617)566- 
1689. 

Ashumet  Holly  Reservation  and  Wildlife  Sanctuary  of  the  Massachusetts 
Audubon  Society.  286  Ashumet  Road,  East  Falmouth,  MA  02536.  Two  trails 
meander  amid  hollies  and  past  an  Oriental  lotus  pond.  Open  Tuesday- 
Sunday,  dawn-dusk.  Admission  charge.  Information:  (617)563-6390. 


New  Alchemy  Institute.  237  Hatchville  Road,  East  Falmouth,  MA  02536. 
Research  institution  founded  to  develop  ecologically  sound  food  systems 
through  organic  gardening,  integrated  pest  management,  solar  ponds,  solar 
greenhouse  design  and  management,  tree  crops,  energy  conservation.  Film, 
guided  tours.  Open  10  a.m.-4  p.m.,  Monday-Friday;  noon^l  p.m.,  Saturday, 
Sunday.  Guided  tours,  Saturday,  1 p.m.  Admission  charge.  Information: 
(617)563-2655. 

Strawbery  Banke  Museum.  Marcy  Street  (near  Prescott  Park,  Exit  7 of  Route  I- 
95),  Portsmouth,  NH  03801.  First  urban  settlement  in  the  state.  Thirty-seven 
houses  dating  from  1695-1 950s,  typical  Eighteenth  Century  Colonial  garden, 
period  herb  gardens,  Victorian  garden.  Open  10  a.m.-5  p.m.  daily,  May  1- 
October  31.  Admission  charge.  Guided  tours  available.  Information:  (603)433- 
1100. 

Fuller  Gardens.  Willow  Avenue,  North  Hampton,  NH  03862.  Tum-of-the 
century  estate  featuring  extensive  plantings  of  roses  accentuated  by  statuary 
and  fountains,  a Japanese  garden,  wildflower  walk,  and  hedge-enclosed 
English  perennial  borders.  Conservatory  contains  a collection  of  tropical 
plants.  Open  10  a.m.-6  p.m.  daily,  mid-May-October.  Admission  charge. 
Information:  (603)964-5414. 

Blithewold  Gardens  and  Arboretum.  Ferry  Road,  Bristol,  RI  02809.  Thirty- 
three  acres  of  landscape  gardens  featuring  exotic  woody  plants,  flower 
gardens;  mansion  with  turn-of-the-century  furnishings  and  decorated  with 
floral  arrangements  overlooks  Narragansett  Bay.  Open  10  a.m.^f  p.m., 
Tuesday-^S  unday,  April-October.  Admission  charge.  Information:  (401)253- 
2707. 

Champion  Greenhouse.  One  Champion  Plaza,  Stamford,  CT  06921.  Ongoing 
program  of  horticultural  shows,  exhibits,  and  displays.  Open  11  a.m.-5  p.m., 
Tuesday-Saturday.  Group  tours  by  appointment.  Information:  (203)358- 
6688. 

Old  Westbury  Gardens.  Old  Westbury  Road,  Old  Westbury,  Long  Island,  NY 
11568.  Mansion,  eight  formal  gardens  in  bloom  throughout  the  season. 
Allees,  lakes,  ponds,  fields,  woods.  Open  10  a.m.-5  p.m.,  Wednesday-Sunday 
and  holidays,  late  April-October.  Admission  charge.  Information:  (516)333- 
0048. 

Enid  A.  Haupt  Garden,  National  Mall,  Washington,  DC.  Open  7 a.m.-8  p.m. 
daily,  June  10-September  30,  7 a.m.-5:45  p.m.,  October  1-May  31.  Informa- 
tion: Smithsonian  Institution,  Washington  20560;  (202)357-2627. 


Native  Plants  19 


Propagation 

Brooklyn  Botanic  Garden.  Propagation.  Handbook  No. 
24.  Brooklyn,  New  York:  Brooklyn  Botanic  Gar- 
den, 1982. 

Philip  M.  Browse.  Plant  Propagation.  New  York:  Simon 
and  Schuster,  1979. 

Will  C.  Curtis  and  William  E.  Brumback.  Propagation  of 
Wildflowers.  Framingham,  Massachusetts:  New 
England  Wild  Flower  Society,  1986.  30  pages. 

General  propagation  notes;  brief  specific  notes  for 
114  native  plants;  seed-collection  dates  for  93 
wildflowers.  Available  by  mail  from  the  NEWFS 
for  $5.45. 

H.  T.  Hartman  and  D.  E.  Kester.  Plant  Propagation. 
Fourth  Edition.  Englewood  Cliffs,  New  Jersey: 
Prentice-Hall,  1983. 

National  Council  of  State  Garden  Clubs,  Directory  of 
Resources  on  Wildflower  Propagation.  Saint 
Louis:  Missouri  Botanical  Garden,  1981. 

Harry  R.  Philips.  Growing  and  Propagating  Wild  Flow- 
ers. Chapel  Hill,  North  Carolina,  1985. 

Sources  of  Native  Plants 

New  England  Wild  Flower  Society.  Nursery  Sources: 
Native  Plants  and  Wild  Flowers.  Framingham, 
Massachusetts:  New  England  Wild  Flower 
Society. 

Lists  sources  of  seeds  and  propagated  plants  of 
over 200  popular  wildflowers  for  Zones  4, 5 , and  6; 

58  nurseries  that  sell  wildflower  seeds  or  propa- 
gated plants  for  Zones  4,  5,  and  6;  and  other 
nurseries  throughout  the  country  that  propagate 
native  plants.  (The  1987  edition  will  be  available 
from  the  NEWFS  in  the  summer  of  1987.) 

New  England  Wild  Flower  Society.  Seed  List.  Framing- 
ham, Massachusetts:  New  England  Wild  Flower 
Society. 

Available  in  late  January  of  each  year,  the  Seed  List 
is  sent  free  to  members  of  the  NEWFS.  Nonmem- 
bers may  obtain  copies  by  sending  a stamped  (39c), 
addressed  long  (No.  10)  envelope  for  each  copy  to 
"Seeds,"  c/o  NEWFS. 


Susan  Storer  is  Horticulturist  at  the  Garden  in  the 
Woods,  Framingham,  Massachusetts. 


Cultivating  Native  Plants:  The  Legal  Pitfalls 


Linda  R.  McMahan 


By  knowing  and  observing  plant-protection  laws  and  determining  the  origins 
of  native  plants  offered  for  sale,  collectors  can  aid  conservation  efforts — and 
avoid  the  legal  and  ethical  pitfalls  of  collecting  as  well 


If  you  purchase  native  plants  you  might  break 
the  law  and,  at  the  same  time  unknowingly 
contribute  to  the  demise  of  wild  plant  popu- 
lations, since  collection  from  the  wild  is  sel- 
dom adequately  licensed  or  controlled.  By 
following  a few  simple  rules,  however,  you 
can  avoid  the  legal  and  ethical  pitfalls  of 
buying  (and  collecting)  native  plants  for  use 
in  a garden,  for  scientific  research,  or  for  horti- 
cultural display. 

In  the  United  States,  many  laws  protect 
species  of  plants  or  regulate  activities  that  in- 
volve them.  The  laws  range  from  strict  prohi- 
bitions of  the  collection  and  sale  of  protected 
species  to  local  regulations  aimed  at  main- 
taining scenic  beauty.  It  is  important  to  know 
what  these  laws  are. 

Plant-Protection  Laws  in  the  United  States 

In  1973,  the  United  States  Congress  passed 
the  Endangered  Species  Act,  which  for  the 
first  time  granted  Federal  protection  to  plants 
under  the  terms  of  a major  law.  Congress 
directed  the  Smithsonian  Institution  to  draw 
up  a list  of  the  endangered  and  threatened 
plants  of  the  United  States.  The 
Smithsonian's  list,  which  was  published  in 
book  form  (Ayensu  and  DeFilipps,  1978), 
included  about  three  thousand  plant  taxa  of 
the  continental  United  States  and  Hawaii. 
This  number,  which  represents  one  out  of  ev- 
ery ten  native  plant  taxa,  astounded  the  scien- 
tific community. 


More  than  one  hundred  of  the  taxa  are  now 
protected  by  the  Act,  and  others  currently  are 
proposed  for  protection.  In  practical  terms 
this  means  that  the  interstate  trade  or  collec- 
tion of  those  taxa  is  prohibited  on  lands 
owned  by  the  United  States  Government, 
unless  one  has  a permit  issued  by  the  United 
States  Fish  and  Wildlife  Service  or  another  ap- 
propriate agency,  such  as  the  Bureau  of  Land 
Management,  the  Park  Service,  or  the  Forest 
Service. 

Some  of  the  endangered  and  threatened 
species  on  the  Federal  list  are  available 
through  legitimate  sources.  Only  propagated 
plants  may  be  sold  legally,  and  their  sale  must 
be  licensed  by  the  Fish  and  Wildlife  Service. 
The  Tennessee  purple  coneflower  [Echinacea 
tennesseensis ) is  an  example  of  a species 
grown  from  seed.  (According  to  the  Fish  and 
Wildlife  Service,  only  two  nurseries  were 
licensed  to  sell  the  species  in  1 985. ) Species  of 
Pediocactus,  a genus  of  endangered  diminu- 
tive cacti,  are  sometimes  propagated  by  seeds, 
cuttings,  or  tissue  culture.  Chapman's  rhodo- 
dendron ( Rhododendron  chapmanii ),  endan- 
gered in  the  wild,  is  available  as  plants  raised 
from  seeds  or  cuttings. 

Other  Federal  laws  protecting  plants  in- 
clude more-general  ones,  such  as  those  that 
prohibit  commercial  collecting  on  Park  Serv- 
ice lands,  and  the  requirements  that  permits 
be  obtained  for  collecting  on  most  other  Fed- 
eral lands. 


Native  Plants  21 


State  Laws 

In  addition  to  the  Federal  laws,  many  states 
have  laws  conserving  plant  species.  About 
half  of  the  fifty  states  have  passed  endangered 
species  laws  that  help  to  conserve  plants 
(McMahan,  1980;  McMahan,  1984),  for  ex- 
ample. There  are  as  many  types  of  provisions 
as  there  are  states,-  they  provide  various  de- 
grees of  protection,  from  outright  prohibi- 
tions against  collection  and  sale  to  the  crea- 
tion of  licensing  systems.  Some  states  do  not 
regulate  collecting  at  all,  but  instead,  focus  on 
preserving  the  habitats  of  rare  plants. 

Despite  the  efforts  of  some  states  to  protect 
their  rare  plants,  it  remains  a sad  fact  that 
most  of  the  plants  at  risk  of  extinction  in  the 
United  States  are  not  yet  protected  by  either 
Federal  or  state  laws  (see,  for  example, 
Manheim  and  Bean,  1984).  Conservation- 
conscious horticulturists  and  botanists  will 
learn  which  native  plants  are  rare  and  will 
proceed  with  extreme  caution  to  purchase 
only  propagated  plants.  Publications  listing 
plants  at  risk  of  extinction  can  be  obtained 


from  the  United  States  Fish  and  Wildlife  Ser- 
vice ( e.g .,  United  States  Fish  and  Wildlife 
Service,  1980,  1981)  and  from  many  state- 
government  offices. 

The  Threats  of  Trade  in  Wild  Species 
Trade  in  wild  plants  can  affect  more-common 
species  as  well,  among  them  the  Venus's-fly- 
trap  [Dionxa  muscipula ),  which  is  native  to 
the  Green  Swamp  of  North  Carolina  and 
South  Carolina.  Although  it  has  a restricted 
habitat,  the  Venus's-flytrap  is  locally  abun- 
dant where  conditions  are  favorable  (Sutter, 
1985).  Its  removal  from  the  wild  is  monitored 
by  the  North  Carolina  Department  of  Agri- 
culture, but  several  nurseries  and  botanical 
gardens  propagate  Venus's-flytrap  from  seeds 
or  by  plant  divisions.  Propagated  specimens 
provide  the  buyer  with  a choice,  making  it 
unnecessary  to  remove  Venus's-flytraps  from 
wild  populations. 

Another  example,  the  yellow  lady's-slip- 
per  (Cypripedium  calceolus),  is  commonly 
offered  through  mail-order  garden  catalogs  in 


The  Venus's  flytrap  (TDionaea  muscipulaj  being  propagated  in  flats  at  the  North  Carolina  Botanical  Garden.  Photograph 
by  the  author. 


22  Native  Plants 


the  United  States.  Unless  the  company  states 
that  they  are  propagated,  the  plants  are  al- 
most certainly  of  wild  origin.  One  catalog 
refers  to  its  stock  as  "specially  selected," 
perhaps  in  an  effort  to  mislead  the  customer 
about  the  source  of  the  plants.  The  Garden  in 
the  Woods  in  Framingham,  Massachusetts, 
the  botanical  garden  of  the  New  England  Wild 
Flower  Society,  is  propagating  the  yellow 
lady's-slipper  on  a limited  basis,  as  are  a few 
others.  These  sources  offer  propagated  plants 
that  are  more  likely  to  survive  transplanting 
to  the  garden  than  are  most  wild-collected 
plants. 

At  least  the  yellow  lady's-slipper  and  some 
other  wildflowers  can  sometimes  survive 
transplanting  from  the  wild.  Others,  such  as 
many  other  species  of  Cypripedium,  are  not 
so  lucky.  They  usually  die  after  one  or  more 
years,  leaving  the  gardener  or  horticulturist 
wondering  what  he  or  she  did  wrong.  For 
those  interested  in  learning  sources  of  nurs- 
ery-propagated native  plants,  the  New  Eng- 
land Wild  Flower  Society's  small  but  infor- 


Chapman's rhododendron  ("Rhododendron  chapmaniij, 
a popular  horticultural  species  endangered  in  its  wild 
habitat  in  Florida.  Photographed  by  E.  La  Verne  Smith  of 
the  Office  of  Endangered  Species,  United  States  Fish  and 
Wildlife  Service. 


mative  booklet,  Nursery  Source  List:  Wild- 
flowers  and  Native  Plants  (New  England 
Wild  Flower  Society,  1984),  is  very  useful. 

It  is  important  to  realize  that,  with  few 
exceptions,  wild  collection  is  not  adequately 
controlled  or  licensed  by  either  state  or  Fed- 
eral agencies.  One  of  a handful  of  states  li- 
censing the  removal  of  wild  plants  is  Arizona. 
Wildlife  officials  dubbed  "cactus  cops"  give 
permits  and  tags  for  collecting  wild  saguaro 
[Cereus  giganteus)  and  other  large  cacti  used 
in  outdoor  landscaping.  Collecting  certain 
rare  species  is  strictly  prohibited  unless  it  is 
done  by  the  landowner.  In  this  way,  the  state 
monitors  the  removal  of  wild  cacti  and  can 
better  assess  the  effect  of  collecting  on  the 
wild  population.  Whenever  possible,  state 
officials  encourage  collectors  to  remove 
plants  from  lands  about  to  be  developed 
rather  than  from  wild  lands. 

The  Legal  Requirements 

Knowing  that  what  you  purchase  is  both  legal 

and  not  detrimental  to  wild  populations  can 


The  yellow  lady's  slipper  ('Cypripedium  calceolusj.  This 
species  sometimes  survives  transplantation  but  is  also 
being  offered  on  a small  scale  as  propagated  specimens. 
Photographed  by  William  Krebs. 


Native  Plants  23 


be  difficult.  It  is  perhaps  safest  to  purchase 
only  material  that  you  know  is  of  propagated 
origin.  Here  are  a few  simple  rules  to  follow: 

□ Learn  about  the  laws  that  protect  native 
plants.  Write  to  a conservation  department  in 
a state  to  which  the  plants  are  native  to  find 
out  about  local  laws.  You  are  presumed  to 
know  what  the  laws  are,  in  any  case. 

□ Follow  all  requirements  of  the  state  or 
Federal  government,  such  as  obtaining  per- 
mits if  you  must  use  wild  plants.  Be  aware 
that  even  the  sale  of  propagated  plants  of 
some  species  is  regulated  so  as  to  increase 
protection  of  the  wild  resource. 

Other  Considerations 

In  addition  to  being  aware  of  the  legal  require- 
ments and  pitfalls,  you  should: 

□ Find  out  whether  the  native  plants  you 
buy  are  wild  or  propagated.  The  best  way  to  do 
so  is  to  ask  the  supplier. 

□ Find  out  which  species  are  rare,  either  in 
the  state  or  nationally,  and  be  particularly 
careful  when  you  buy  these  species  to  deter  - 


Echinacea  tennesseensis,  the  Tennessee  purple  cone- 
flower.This  species  is  available  legally  from  nurseries 
licensed  by  the  United  States  Pish  and  Wildlife  Service. 


mine  that  they  originated  as  propagated 
plants. 

□ Obtain  information  about  the  site  from 
which  the  plants  came  if,  for  scientific  rea- 
sons, you  must  purchase  plants  collected  in 
the  wild.  The  information  may  be  valuable 
some  day. 

□ Do  not,  in  general,  buy  wild  plants  un- 
less their  collection  and  sale  are  licensed  and 
the  wild  population  is  monitored  by  a govern- 
ment agency. 

□ Be  particularly  careful  when  you  buy 
from  mail-order  catalogs.  Many  rare  and  wild- 
collected  specimens  of  cacti  and  insectivo- 
rous plants  are  sold  in  this  way,  perhaps  ille- 
gally. 

□ Be  aware  that  most  "wildflowers"  of- 
fered for  sale  in  the  United  States  through 
mail-order  catalogs  were  collected  from  the 
wild.  These  include  bloodroot,  ferns,  and  tril- 
liums. 

□ Never  buy  lady's-slipper  orchids  ( Cyp - 
iipedium  spp.)  unless  you  know  that  they 
were  artificially  propagated. 


A pincushion  cactus,  Pediocactus  peeblesianus  var.  pee- 
blesianus.  Endangered  pincushion  cacti  are  popular 
among  cactus  collectors.  Photograph  by  the  Desert 
Botanical  Garden. 


24  Native  Plants 


A stand  of  saguaios  fCereus  giganteusj  in  the  Saguaio 
National  Monument,  near  Tucson,  Arizona.  Saguaios 
often  are  used  in  outdoor  landscaping. 


References 

Ayensu,  Edward  S.;  and  Robert  A.  DeFilipps,  1978. 
Endangered  and  Threatened  Plants  of  the  United 
States.  Washington,  D.  C.:  Smithsonian  Institu- 
tion and  World  Wildlife  Fund. 

Manheim,  Bruce  S.,  and  Michael  J.  Bean,  1984. 
Undermining  the  plant-protection  effort.  Garden 
(July-August):  2-5. 

McMahan,  Linda  R.,  1980.  Legal  protection  for  rare 
plants.  American  University  Law  Review  29(3): 
515-569. 

1984.  What  is  protection?  Tennessee 

Conservationist  50  March-April):  5-7. 

New  England  Wild  Flower  Society,  1984.  Nursery  Source 
List:  Wildflowers  and  Native  Plants.  Framing- 
ham, Massachusetts:  New  England  Wild  Flower 
Society  [Hemenway  Road,  Framingham  01701], 
Sutter,  Robert,  1985.  Venus  flytrap  threatened  primarily 
by  habitat  loss.  TRAFFIC  (U.S.A.)  6(2):  13. 
United  States  Fish  and  Wildlife  Service,  1980. 
Endangered  and  Threatened  Wildlife  and  Plants: 
Review  of  Plant  Taxa  for  Listing  as  Endangered  or 
Threatened  Species.  Federal  Register  45(242): 
82,480-82,569  (December  15). 

1984.  Endangered  and  Threatened 

Wildlife  and  Plants,  July  20,  1984.  Washington, 
D.  C.:  Department  of  the  Interior  [18th  and  C 
Streets,  NW,  Washington  20240]. 


Linda  R.  McMahan  is  Senior  Program  Officer  for  Botany,  Center  for  Plant  Conservation,  Jamaica  Plain,  Massachusetts. 
She  received  her  doctorate  in  botany  from  The  University  of  Texas  at  Austin  in  1972  and  her  law  degree  from  the  American 
University  in  1981.  In  addition  to  having  taught  for  several  years,  she  has  worked  for  the  United  States  Environmental 
Protection  Agency,  the  United  States  Department  of  the  Interior,  and  the  World  Wildlife  Fund-U.S.  before  coming  to  the 
Center  for  Plant  Conservation. 


Native  Plants  25 


Native-Plant  Societies  in  the  United  States 

Over  half  of  the  states  in  the  Union  now  have  societies  devoted  to  preserving, 
collecting,  and  cultivating  native  species  of  plants 


Native-plant  societies,  relatively  new  phenomena,  exist  in  most  of  the  United  States  (thirty-three 
at  last  count).  Dedicated  to  studying,  preserving,  and  bringing  into  cultivation  the  plants  of  a state 
or  region,  they  draw  attention  to  the  beauty  and  special  virtues  of  wild  plants  raised  under 
cultivation.  In  addition  to  the  state  societies,  there  are  regional  societies  with  the  same  or  similar 
goals  (the  New  England  Wild  Flower  Society,  for  example).  A list  of  the  statewide,  or  "state- 
specific,"  native-plant  societies  follows. 


Alabama  Wildflower  Society 

Native  Plant  Committee 

Attention:  George  Wood 

Hawaii  Botanical  Society 

Route  2,  Box  1 15 

c/o  Department  of  Botany 

North  port  35476 

University  of  Hawaii 

Honolulu  96822 

Alaska  Native  Plant  Society 

Post  Office  Box  141613 

Idaho  Native  Plant  Society 

Anchorage  99514 

Post  Office  Box  9451 

Boise  83707 

Arizona  Native  Plant  Society 

Post  Office  Box  41206 

Illinois  Native  Plant  Society 

Tucson  85717 

Department  of  Botany 

Southern  Illinois  University 

Arkansas  Native  Plant  Society 

Attention:  Don  Peach 

Carbondale  62901 

Route  1,  Box  282 

Kansas  Wildflower  Society 

Mena  71953 

c/o  Mulvane  Art  Center 
Washburn  University 

California  Native  Plant  Society 

909  Twelfth  Street  #116 

Topeka  66621 

Sacramento  95614 

Louisiana  Native  Plant  Society 
Attention:  Richard  Johnson 

Colorado  Native  Plant  Society 

Route  1,  Box  151 

Post  Office  Box  200 

Saline  71070 

Fort  Collins  80522 

Maryland  Native  Plant  Society 

Florida  Native  Plant  Society 

Attention:  Scaffidi 

1203  Orange  Avenue 

14720  Claude  Lane 

Winter  Park  32789 

Silver  Spring  20904 

Georgia  Botanical  Society 

Michigan  Botanical  Club 

Attention:  Marie  Mellinger 

Matthaei  Botanical  Gardens 

Route  1 

1800  North  Dixboro  Road 

Tiger  30576 

Ann  Arbor  48105 

26 


Native  Plants 


Minnesota  Native  Plant  Society 
220  Biological  Sciences  Center 
University  of  Minnesota 
Saint  Paul  55108 

Mississippi  Native  Plant  Society 
Attention:  Travis  Salley 
202  North  Andrews  Avenue 
Cleveland  38732 

Missouri  Native  Plant  Society 
Post  Office  Box  6612 
Jefferson  City  65102-6612 

Nevada  Native  Plant  Society 
Post  Office  Box  8965 
Reno  89507 

New  Jersey  Native  Plant  Society 
Frelinghuysen  Arboretum 
Post  Office  Box  1295R 
Morristown  07960 

Native  Plant  Society  of  New  Mexico 
Post  Office  Box  5917 
Santa  Fe  87502 

North  Carolina  Wild  Flower  Preservation 
Society 

c/o  North  Carolina  Botanical  Garden 
457- A Totten  Center 

University  of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hill 
Chapel  Hill  27514 

Ohio  Native  Plant  Society 
Attention:  Ann  Malmquist 
6 Louise  Drive 
Chagrin  Falls  44022 

Oklahoma  Native  Plant  Society 
Attention:  Dr.  John  Taylor 
Route  1,  Box  157 
Durant  74701 


Oregon  Native  Plant  Society 
393  Ful  Vue  Drive 
Eugene  97405 

Pennsylvania  Native  Plant  Society 
1806  Commonwealth  Building 
316  Fourth  Avenue 
Pittsburgh  15222 

Tennessee  Native  Plant  Society 
Department  of  Botany 
University  of  Tennessee 
Knoxville  37916 

Native  Plant  Society  of  Texas 
Post  Office  Box  23836 
Denton  76204 

Utah  Native  Plant  Society 
1050  East  Oakridge  Circle 
Sandy  84070 

Virginia  Wildflower  Preservation  Society 
Post  Office  Box  844 
Annandale  22003 

Washington  Native  Plant  Society 
Attention:  Dr.  Arthur  R.  Kruckenberg 
Department  of  Botany 
University  of  Washington 
Seattle  98195 

West  Virginia  Native  Plant  Society 
c/o  Herbarium 
Brooks  Hall 

West  Virginia  University 
Morgantown  26506 

Wyoming  Native  Plant  Society 
Post  Office  Box  1471 
Cheyenne  82001 


— E.  A.  S. 


Hardy  Aroids  in  the  Garden 

Judy  Glattstein 


Though  not  showy  plants  and  with  only  a modest  following  among  plant 
lovers,  the  hardy  aroids  are  interesting,  display  many  virtues  in  cultivation, 
and  attract  "a  different  class  of  gardeners" 


The  Arum  Family,  or  Araceae,  consists  of 
about  fifteen  genera,  most  of  them  tropi- 
cal but  of  wide  distribution.  Some  of  the 
tropical  members  of  the  family  have  long 
been  under  cultivation,  especially  in  east- 
ern Asia  and  the  Pacific  Islands.  Taro 
( Colocasia  esculenta ) and  several  species 
of  Xanthosoma  (yautia),  for  example,  are 
grown  for  their  edible  tubers  as  staple 
sources  of  starch.  Other  tropical  species 
are  handsome  foliage  plants  used  in  the 
temperate  zones  for  summer  bedding  ( Ca - 
ladium ) or  as  houseplants  ( Aglaonema , 
Dieffenbachia,  Monster  a,  Philodendron). 
Others  are  used  by  florists  as  cut  flowers 
(. Anthurium , Calla). 

Some  members  of  the  family  are  hardy, 
notably  Arisxma,  Ar  is  arum,  Arum,  Lysi- 
chiton,  and  Symplocarpus.  The  Araceae 
might  seem  a poor  prospect  for  garden- 
worthy plants  to  those  familiar  only  with 
the  skunk  cabbage  (Symplocarpus  fcetid- 
us)  of  New  England's  swamps.  I have  en- 
joyed cultivating  representatives  of  sever- 
al genera,  some  for  their  flowers,  some  for 
their  foliage. 

Aroids  have  a modest  following,  appear- 
ing in  an  occasional  article,  mentioned 
briefly  in  gardening  books.  Visitors  to  my 
garden  have  admired  them,-  they  have  sev- 
eral points  of  appeal.  Many  of  the  aroids 
I discuss  in  this  article  are  rare  in  cultiva- 


tion, especially  in  the  United  States.  They 
are,  therefore,  unusual  and  have  the 
appeal  of  novelty. 

Aroids  contain  a bitter  substance,  calci- 
um oxalate,  and  are  little  bothered  by 
pests.  Slugs,  mice,  rabbits,  and  deer  find 
them  decidedly  unpalatable.  When  aroids 
are  used  for  food,  the  calcium  oxalate 
first  must  be  destroyed  by  heat.  Garden- 
ers should  be  careful  to  wash  their  hands 
after  handling  berries  or  a bruised  tuber. 
Once,  after  cleaning  Arissema  seeds,  I 
inadvertently  touched  my  mouth.  The 
resulting  unpleasant  tingling  and  numb- 
ness took  several  hours  to  wear  off. 

My  garden  in  Wilton,  Connecticut,  is 
shaded  by  mature  white  oaks  ( Quercus 
alba).  Understory  trees  are  dogwood 
( Cornus  florida)  and  black  birch  ( Betula 
lenta).  The  Araceae  I raise  are  quite 
hardy  in  Wilton,  which  is  situated  in  Ar- 
nold Arboretum  Hardiness  Zone  6 (-5 
Fahrenheit  to  5 Fahrenheit).  In  fact,  the 
temperature  once  dipped  to  -8  Fahren- 
heit, and  there  were  no  losses.  The  soil  in 
the  garden  is  a good  loam,  which  I keep 
mulched  with  leaves  for  a constant  supply 
of  humus,-  as  in  most  of  Connecticut,  the 
pH  is  rather  low  (acid).  Other  plants  I use 
in  the  garden  include  such  American  wild- 
flowers  as  Trillium,  Sanguinaria  canaden- 
se  (bloodroot),  Hexastylis  spp.  (evergreen 


28  Aroids 


gingers  from  the  southeastern  states), 
Phlox  stolonifera,  Phlox  divaiicata,  and 
many  kinds  of  ferns.  Other  shade-tolerant 
plants,  such  as  hostas,  epimediums,  and 
primroses,  also  do  well  under  these  condi- 
tions. 

Since  I have  to  obtain  most  of  the  a- 
roids  from  abroad,  I prefer  to  receive 
them  in  the  autumn.  They  are  completely 
dormant  at  this  time,  and  the  tubers  travel 
well  and  arrive  in  excellent  condition.  If 
they  are  shipped  in  the  spring,  there  is 
the  risk  that  they  will  break  dormancy 
while  in  transit.  New  growth  can  be  dam- 
aged either  by  the  confines  of  the  ship- 
ping container,  or  by  rot.  As  soon  as  the 
tubers  are  received  they  are  planted 
directly  in  the  garden.  The  area  is  spad- 
ed over,  and  extra  compost  is  added  if 
necessary.  I fertilize  with  muriate  of 
potash  and  superphosphate.  Soils  in  the 


The  familiar  skunk  cabbage  ('Symplocarpus  foetidusj 
of  New  England's  swamps.  This  and  all  other 
photographs  accompanying  this  article  were  taken 
by  the  author. 


Northeast  are  low  in  phosphorus,  and  pot- 
ash is  especially  useful  for  tuberous 
plants.  It  is  not  safe  to  use  bonemeal  in 
my  garden  because  it  attracts  skunks, 
which  dig  up  the  tubers  looking  for  bones. 
They  do  not  eat  the  tubers,  but  it  is  a nui- 
sance to  replant  them.  Nitrogen  is  ap- 
plied in  the  spring,  in  the  form  of  dried 
blood,  cottonseed  meal,  or  leather  tank- 
age. Fertilization  after  the  first  year  is  usu- 
ally not  required.  The  constant  mulch  of 
leaves  seems  to  keep  the  plants  growing 
in  good  condition. 

An  alternative  way  of  obtaining  these 
plants  is  to  raise  them  from  seed.  I soak 
dried  berries  in  a little  tepid  water  for  an 
hour  or  so,  until  the  coat  softens.  Then,  I 
rub  the  seeds  gently  between  paper  tow- 
els and  separate  the  seed.  Each  berry 
has  one  to  four  seeds.  I sow  the  seeds  in 
a sterile  mix  of  half  potting  soil  and  half 


Lysichiton  amencanum  in  flower  in  the  wild,  Washing- 
ton, D.C. 


Avoids  29 


Jiffy-mix®  or  Pro-mix®,  with  enough  sharp 
sand  for  good  drainage.  (I  sow  them  thin- 
ly enough  that  I won't  have  to  prick  them 
out  for  a year.)  I cover  the  the  seeds  well, 
water  them,  and  wait.  Fresh  seeds  will  ger- 
minate promptly  under  growth  lights. 
Older  seeds  will  germinate  more  slowly, 
and  outdoor  conditions  slow  the  germina- 
tion process  somewhat. 

My  biggest  problem  has  been  to  keep 
the  plants  through  their  dormant  stages. 
While  the  garden  site  may  be  quite 
damp,  pot-grown  plants  rot  with  the  great- 
est of  ease.  At  the  same  time,  small  tu- 
bers dry  out  quickly.  It  is  difficult  to  find 
the  correct  balance.  Second-year  plants 
can  go  into  a prepared  site  in  the  garden 
and  should  begin  flowering  in  their  third 
or  fourth  year.  I have  used  this  method 
with  several  species  of  Aiisaema  and  with 
Arum  italicum.  Arisaema  seeds  do  not 
need  a period  of  stratification  but  will  ger- 
minate during  the  autumn  they  ripen  if 
they  are  sown  indoors.  Sown  outdoors  in 
the  autumn  they  will,  of  course,  germi- 
nate the  following  spring.  The  production 
of  seeds  is  generous,  one  spadix  of  Aii- 
saema  sikokianum  having  from  one  to 
four  seeds  in  a berry,  for  a total  of  five 
hundred  eighty-seven  seeds.  Plants  of  Ari- 
saema sikokianum  often  begin  to  flower  in 
their  third  year.  Once  established,  the 
plants  are  most  agreeable.  I have  dug 
one  up  in  full  bloom,  potted  it  for  a rock- 
garden  show,  and  replanted  it  in  the  gar- 
den without  any  difficulty  or  damage  to 
the  plant. 

The  flowering  of  Aiissema  follows  an 
unusual  pattern.  Immature  corms,  from 
either  seeds  or  offsets,  are  asexual  and 
have  a single  foliage  leaf.  As  corms  in- 
crease in  size  after  their  first  year,  they 
reach  sexual  maturity,  producing  two 
leaves  and  one  scape.  Smaller  (lighter) 
corms  are  male,  heavier  corms  are  invari- 
ably female,  the  sexual  state  having  pro- 


gressed from  an  asexual  to  a male  and 
finally  to  a female  state,  remaining  in  the 
last  state.  Many  plants — Ilex  and  Myrica, 
for  example — have  single-sexed  plants 
that  are  either  male  or  female  and  that 
remain  so  for  the  life  of  the  individual 
plant,  a condition  called  "dioecious."  The 
transitional  nature  of  the  sexual  state  of 
Aiisaema  is  referred  to  as  "paradioe- 
cious." 

Arisaema 

In  North  America  there  are  two  species 
of  Aiisaema,  Arisaema  tiiphyllum,  which 
has  four  subspecies,  and  Arisaema  dra- 
contium  of  the  southeastern  states. 

Arisaema  triphyllum  (Linnaeus)  Torrey 
is  found  from  the  Gaspe  Peninsula, 
southern  Quebec  and  Ontario,  Wisconsin 
and  Minnesota  south  to  eastern  Texas 
and  southern  Florida,  growing  in  moist, 
shady  woodlands.  There  are  four  sub- 
specific populations,  with  widespread  hy- 
brid swarms. 

Arisaema  triphyllum  ssp.  triphyllum  is 
the  most  widespread.  Its  height  varies 
with  growing  conditions.  I have  seen 
specimens  that  were  dwarf  in  the  wild 
reach  two  feet  in  height  in  the  garden  with 
richer  soil  and  ample  water.  Typically,  it 
has  one  or  two  leaves,  each  bearing  three 
leaflets,  which  are  glaucous  beneath.  The 
spathe  may  vary  in  color  from  green  to 
green-and-purple  striped,  to  chocolate 
purple.  The  name  'Zebrinum'  is  often  ap- 
plied to  cultivars  whose  spathes  are 
purple  to  bronze  and  have  whitish  longitu- 
dinal stripes  inside.  An  interesting  variant 
has  recently  been  discovered  by  Peggy 
French  in  Wilton,  Connecticut.  It  has  pro- 
nouncedly white-veined  leaves  and 
comes  true  from  seed. 

The  second  subspecies,  which  I have 
seen  in  several  gardens,  is  Arisaema  tri- 
phyllum ssp.  stewardsonii.  This  is  a 
northern  variant  in  which  the  spathe  is 


30  Aroids 


green  and  strongly  fluted  with  white 
ridges  on  the  outside.  It  tends  to  appear 
later  in  the  spring  than  the  other  sub- 
species and  grows  consistently  in  moist 
sites.  Its  leaves  are  never  glaucous. 

The  third  subspecies  is  Arissema 
triphyllum  ssp.  pusillum,  which  grows  in 
the  same  habitat  as  Arissema  triphyllum 
ssp.  stewardsonii,  although  farther  south 
and  at  lower  elevations.  Its  leaves,  too, 
are  never  glaucous.  There  are  no  ridges 
on  the  spathe,  and  the  coloring  is  nearly 
always  completely  green  or  completely 
purple,  occasionally  with  thin,  green 
stripes. 

The  fourth  subspecies,  Arissema  tri- 
phyllum var.  quinatum,  has  a very  re- 
stricted range  in  the  deep  South,  growing 
in  moist,  shaded  locations.  It  is  smaller 
than  the  other  subspecies,  and  its  leaves 
are  usually  five-parted  and  glaucous 
beneath,  although  there  may  be 
fewer  leaflets,  and  the  the  leaflets  may 
not  be  glaucous.  The  spathe  is  green  and 
bears  no  markings. 

Arissema  dracontium,  the  green- 
dragon,  has  a solitary  leaf  with  seven  to 
nineteen  segments.  The  spathe  is  more 
tightly  furled  than  in  the  previous  species 
and  is  green,  without  stripes.  The  long, 
slender  spadix  protrudes  and  hangs  down 
from  this.  Plants  can  reach  an  overall 
height  of  three  feet  (0.9  m). 

In  western  China,  Japan,  and  the  Hima- 
layas, there  are  at  least  one  hundred  spe- 
cies of  Arissema,  forty-two  in  Japan 
alone.  Some  of  them  are  among  the  most 
beautiful,  exotic,  interesting,  and  easily 
cultivated  plants  that  could  be  grown  in 
the  garden. 

Arissema  candidissimum  W.  W.  Smith 
is  a Chinese  species  discovered  and  col- 
lected by  George  Forrest  in  Yunnan  in 
1914.  It  is  found  in  pine  forests,  indi- 
cating a preference  for  acid  soil.  Under 
cultivation,  it  does  not  need  a very  moist 


site.  The  leaf  is  solitary,  three-parted,  and 
a glossy  mid-green;  it  appears  after 
flowering,  which  occurs  early  in  June. 
The  spathe  is  very  beautifully  marked 
with  pink  and  white  stripes.  Mature  tubers 
make  numerous  offsets,  which  form  a 
good-sized  clump  in  a few  years. 

Arissema  sikokianum  Franchet  and  Sa- 
vatier  comes  from  Honshu,  Shikoku,  and 
Kyushu  in  Japan.  Mature  plants  have  two 
three-  to  five-parted  leaves  that  often  have 
attractive  silver  markings.  Its  Japanese 
name,  yuki-mochi-so,  means  "snow  rice- 
cake  plant,"  in  reference  to  the  pure- 
white,  clublike  spadix.  The  spathe  is  a 
deep  chocolate  brown  on  the  outside, 
green  shading  to  white  inside.  It  flowers 
in  late  April  and  early  May. 

This  is  an  extraordinarily  beautiful 
plant.  In  the  garden,  I combine  it  with  the 
Japanese  Primula  sieboldii,  especially 
the  deep-pink  forms  that  contrast  so  nice- 
ly with  the  dark  spathe  of  the  Arissema. 
One  colony  is  growing  with  the  Japanese 
painted  fern,  Athyrium  goeringianum  'Pic- 
turn',  whose  silver  fronds  complement  the 
markings  on  the  Arissema  leaf.  Seeds  are 
freely  produced  and  germinate  readily. 
Plants  that  produce  seeds  are  more  resis- 
tant to  cold  and  go  dormant  later  than 
non-seed-bearing  plants.  The  seeds  are 
ripe  before  the  berries  turn  red,  which  is 
fortunate  because  the  growing  season  in 
Wilton  is  too  short  for  the  berries  to  red- 
den. 

Arisxma  thunbergii  var.  urashima 
(Hara)  Ohashi  and  J.  Murata  is  found  in 
the  wild  on  the  islands  of  Hokkaido,  Hon- 
shu, and  Shikoku.  The  leaf  is  solitary,  with 
eleven  to  fifteen  pedately  arranged  leaf- 
lets of  a dark,  glossy  green.  It  appears 
with  the  flowers.  The  Japanese  name  of 
the  plant,  urashima-so,  refers  to  the 
odd — even  amusing — flowers  and  is 
based  on  a folk  tale.  Taro  Urashima  was 
a young  fisherman,  and  it  is  for  him  that 


Aioids  31 


the  plant  is  named.  The  dark  bronze-pur 
pie  spathe  of  Aiisxma  thunbergii  var. 
urashima  arches  strongly  over  the  spa- 
dix, narrowing  abruptly  to  a tail-like  tip. 
The  spadix  has  a threadlike  appendage 
as  much  as  twenty  inches  (50  cm)  long 
that  trails  on  the  ground  like  a fishing 
line.  It  flowers  in  mid-May  in  my  garden. 
Seeds  germinate  freely.  The  tubers  may 
make  offsets.  A colony  of  this  variety  is  at- 
tractive, not  only  for  the  unusual  flower 
but  for  the  attractive  leaf. 

Arisxma  japonicum  Blume  and  Aii- 
ssema  serratum  Thunberg  probably  are 
one  and  the  same  species.  A common 
and  very  polymorphic  species,  minor  vari- 
ants in  color  and  size  have  been 
accorded  specific  rank  in  the  past.  Dr. 


Arisaema  sikokianum  in  the  author’s  garden.  This 
beautiful  Japanese  species  is  native  to  the  islands  of 
Honshu,  Shikoku,  and  Kyushu. 


Creech  of  the  United  States  Department 
of  Agriculture  introduced  it  into  the 
United  States.  The  pseudostem  may  be 
up  to  two  feet  (0.6  m)  tall  and  pale  green 
or  pale  green  with  "snakelike"  purple  mot- 
tling. Plants  with  mottling  are  more 
attractive  in  the  garden  than  those  without 
it.  It  flowers  in  late  April  to  early  May. 
One  of  my  correspondents,  with  true  Ori- 
ental courtesy,  has  written,  "I  sent 
yesterday  a parcel  with  the  plants.  I think 
they  are  of  less  value  in  Japan  but  good 
plant  for  shady  garden." 

Aiisxma  ringens  (Thunberg)  Schott  is 
noted  in  English  literature  as  coming  into 
growth  as  early  as  February  or  March. 
The  colder  winters  in  Connecticut  must 
keep  it  dormant  over  a longer  period,  as  I 


Arisaema  thunbergii  in  the  author's  garden.  Found 
wild  on  the  islands  of  Hokkaido,  Honshu,  and  Shiko- 
ku, it  flowers  in  mid-May  in  the  author's  garden. 


32  Aroids 


have  not  seen  any  growth  as  early  as 
that.  Its  leaves  are  large,  glossy  green, 
and  thick.  Mature  plants  have  two  leaves, 
both  of  which  have  three  leaflets.  Each 
leaflet  ends  in  a little,  threadlike  tail.  The 
spathe  of  Aiisxma  ringens  differs  from 
those  of  other  members  of  the  genus,  hav- 
ing an  inflated,  curving  upper  part  resem- 
bling a very  large  snail  shell.  The  main 
part  of  the  spathe  is  green  in  forma 
prxcox,  dark  purple  in  forma  sieboldii. 
The  spathe's  margins  are  folded  over  like 
an  auricle  and  are  chocolate  brown.  The 
leaves  are  unaffected  by  a light  frost  but 
are  damaged  when  temperatures  drop 
below  28  Fahrenheit.  The  tubers  of  Ari- 
sxma  ringens  have  grown  larger  than 
those  of  any  other  species  of  Aiisxma  I 
have  raised,  reaching  three  and  one  half 
inches  (8.5  cm)  in  diameter.  Offsets  are 
formed  to  a moderate  extent. 

Arisdema  fargesii,  which  is  native  to 
Mount  Omei  in  China,  is  the  least  com- 
mon species  I grow.  Carla  Teune,  curat- 
or of  the  Leiden  Botanic  Garden,  sent  me 
some  seeds  she  had  collected  in  China 
in  1980,  among  which  were  seeds  of  an 
unidentified  species  of  Aiisxma.  (Since 
the  spathe  is  an  important  character  for 
identifying  species  of  Aiisxma,  a fruiting 
plant  cannot  be  identified  with  a 
taxonomic  key.)  The  seeds  germinated 
well,  but  some  plants  succumbed  to  the 
winter.  Each  winter  I lost  a few  more 
tubers  from  rot.  Finally,  in  the  fall  of 
1983,  I felt  that  the  two  remaining  tubers 
were  large  enough  to  be  put  into  a propa- 
gating-holding  bed.  May  1984  came  and 
went,  as  did  June,  but  there  was  no  sign 
of  either  remaining  tubers.  The  winter 
had  been  too  cold  for  them,  I thought, 
and  I hadn't  planted  them  deep  enough. 
Or  I should  have  protected  them  from  the 
many  mice,  voles,  and  chipmunks  that 
infest  my  garden.  I doubted  that  the  latter 
was  true,  for  all  parts  of  an  Aiisxma  are 


laced  with  crystals  of  oxalic  acid,  which 
renders  them  unpalatable,  and  I had 
never  had  a problem  with  such  animals 
before.  I was  ready  to  admit  my  guilt. 
Then,  in  mid-July,  two  large  buds  ap- 
peared. They  grew  swiftly  and  continued 
to  grow,  until  the  single  leaf  of  each  plant 
was  bigger  than  my  outspread  hand.  The 
spathe  and  spadix  appeared  as  rapidly. 
The  spathe  reminded  me  a little  owl,  with 
the  tip  falling  forward  for  the  beak  and  an 
opening  on  each  side  resembling  the 
eyes.  It  was  a fine  plant,  but  anonymous! 

Ohwi's  Flora  is  for  Japan,  and  this  was 
a plant  from  mainland  China.  When  in 
doubt,  find  an  authority,  I told  myself.  I 
took  some  photographs  and  sent  them  off 
to  H.  Lincoln  Foster,  the  doyen  of  Amer- 
ican rock  gardeners.  He  replied  in  early 
August: 

By  studying  my  xerox  of  the  pages  of 
Flora  Republicae  Populous  Sinicae  con- 
cerning the  arisaemas,  even  though  the 
text  is  Chinese,  from  the  rather  good 
drawings  I feel  confident  that  your  plant 
is  from  the  Section  Franchetiana.  This 
has  6 species,  including  candidissimum. 

Your  species  is,  I think  A.  fargesii. 

A name!  An  identity!  Though  one  plant 
had  male  flowers  and  the  other  female, 
there  has  not  been  any  setting  of  seed. 
The  foliage  is  very  tender,  being  killed  by 
the  first  light  frost. 

A r is  a rum 

The  genus  Arisarum  A.  Targioni-Tozzetti 
contains  three  species,  all  of  which  are 
confined  to  the  Mediterranean  basin.  One 
(Arisarum  proboscideum ) is,  however, 
hardy  in  my  garden. 

Arisarum  proboscideum  (Linnaeus)  Savi 
is  often  called  the  mousetail  arum.  Small- 
er (more  dwarf)  than  most  species  of  Ari- 
sxma,  it  has  a creeping  rhizome  and 
sends  up  a mass  of  small  leaves.  The 
spathe  has  a threadlike  tip  that  protrudes 
from  the  leaves  and  looks  rather  like  a 


Aioids  33 


Arisasma  japonicum  in  the  author’s  garden,  Dr.  John 
Creech  of  the  United  States  Department  of  Agricul- 
ture introduced  this  species  to  the  United  States. 


Close-up  of  the  flower  of  Arisasma  fargesii  in  the 
author’s  garden.  An  uncommon  species,  it  hails  from 
Mount  Omei  in  China.  This  plant  was  grown  from 
seed  collected  in  China  by  Carla  Teune  of  the  Leiden 
Botanic  Garden. 


mouse's  tail.  Culture  is  similar  to  that 
members  of  Arisxma,  which  is  to  say, 
woodland  conditions  of  soil  high  in 
organic  matter,  moist  but  not  soggy,  and 
shaded. 

Arum 

The  genus  Arum  Linnaeus  consists  of 
approximately  twelve  species,  most  of 
them  native  to  the  Mediterranean  basin, 
two  to  the  British  Isles.  All  are  tuberous. 
Their  flowers  are  unisexual,  but  unlike 
that  of  Arissema  the  spadix  Arum  bears 
both  male  and  female  flowers. 

Arum  maculatum  is  the  species  com- 
monly found  in  Great  Britain.  The  large, 
green,  arrow-shaped  leaves  emerge  in 
the  spring.  Often  the  leaves  are  splashed 
with  black  or  purple  spots.  Flowering  oc- 
curs soon  afterward.  In  autumn,  clusters 
of  brilliant  orange-red  berries  appear  and 
make  a handsome  display.  Arum  macu- 
latum is  valuable  as  a garden  plant 
because  it  will  grow  and  fruit  in  heavy 
shade. 

Arum  italicum  (as  Arum  italicum  ssp. 
neglectum ) is  less  commonly  found  in  the 
British  Isles.  Arum  italicum  ssp.  itali- 
cum, the  form  occurring  in  Europe,  has 
green  leaves  with  veins  marked  in 
creamy  white,-  it  is  thus  the  more  inter- 
esting garden  plant.  In  addition,  its 
leaves  begin  their  growth  in  the  autumn, 
persist  through  the  winter,  and  go  dor- 
mant in  midsummer.  If  an  exceptionally 
bad  season  destroys  the  foliage  over  the 
winter,  a secondary  set  will  emerge  in  the 
spring.  The  spathe  varies  in  color  from 
creamy  white  to  pale  green.  The  berries 
of  this  species  also  give  a handsome 
display  in  autumn.  Two  especially  attrac- 
tive leaf  forms  have  been  given  cultivar 
names,  'Pictum'  and  'Marmoratum'.  Be- 
cause of  the  autumn  berries  and  winter 
foliage,  this  is  a choice  species  for 
adding  interest  to  the  shady  woodland 


34  Aioids 


garden.  The  seeds  ripen  in  autumn  and 
germinate  the  following  spring. 

Pinellia 

The  genus  Pinellia  consists  of  perhaps 
half  a dozen  species  native  to  China  and 
Japan.  The  leaves  appear  with  the  flow- 
ers, which  are  monoecious.  The  leaves 
are  simple  or  three-  to  seven-lobed. 

Pinellia  ternata  and  Pinellia  tripartita 
are  the  two  species  listed  in  Ohwi's  Flora 
of  Japan.  Both  are  small  plants  four  to 
eight  inches  (10  to  20  cm)  tall.  Their  roots 
are  tuberous,-  additional  small  tubers  are 
produced  at  ground  level.  In  both 
species,  the  leaves  are  green  and  three- 
lobed.  Owhi  mentions  Pinellia  ternata  as 
quite  common  in  cultivated  fields  and 
roadsides.  This,  coupled  with  its  habit  of 
producing  extra  tubers  at  the  soil  surface 
might  indicate  a certain  weediness. 
Spathes  are  green  or  purplish.  Flowering 
occurs  in  summer. 

In  November  1986  a friend  sent  me 
some  tubers  of  Pinellia  cordata  from  Ja- 
pan. While  I have  not  yet  found  any  refer- 
ences to  this  species  ( Hortus  Third,  for 
example,  does  not  list  Pinellia  at  all),  I 
assume  that  Pinellia  cordata  has  simple 
rather  than  lobed  leaves.  According  to 
my  friend,  people  generally  raise  it  in 
pots  in  Japan,  apparently  to  have  easy 
access  to  the  fragrant  plants. 

Nowhere  have  I found  reference  to  the 
pleasant  aroma  that  this  aroid  has.  I 
smelled  it  for  the  first  time  in  Lincoln  and 
Laura  Louise  Foster's  garden  during  the 
summer  of  1986,  at  the  suggestion  of  my 
friend  Takeo  Nihei,  who  was  visiting  the 
United  States  at  the  time.  Obviously, 
there  is  more  to  a plant  than  its  botanical 
description. 

The  hardy  aroids  are  not  splashy, 
showy  flowering  plants  like  roses  or  chrys- 
anthemums. They  have  a different  kind  of 
flower,  interesting  to  a different  class  of 


gardener.  Perhaps  other  gardeners  will  be- 
come interested  enough  in  these  plants 
through  this  article  to  attempt  to  cultivate 
them,  as  well  as  other  hardy  species,  and 
would  be  willing  to  share  their  information 
with  me. 

Sources 

Alfred  Evans.  The  Peat  Carden  and  Its  Plants. 

London:  Dent,  1974.  xi  + 164  pages. 

Andrew  Henderson.  Dragon  plants  and  mousetails. 
The  Garden,  Volume  106,  Number  1,  pages 
13  to  17  (January  1981). 

Donald  C.  Huddleston.  The  North  American 
species  of  Arisaema  (Araceae) — "Jack-in-the- 
Pulpit."  Aroideana,  Volume  7,  Number  1, 
pages  15  to  17  (1984). 

Will  Ingwersen.  Lords  and  ladies  in  the  garden. 
Country  Life,  pages  1,654  to  1,655  (June  7, 
1984). 

Tokujiro  Maekawa.  On  the  phenomena  of  sex 
transition  in  Arisaema  japonica  Bl.  Journal  of 
the  College  of  Agriculture,  Hokkaido  Imperial 
University,  Volume  13,  Number  3,  (June 
1924). 

Brian  Mathew.  Dwarf  Bulbs.  London:  Batsford,  for 
the  Royal  Horticultural  Society,  1973.  240 
pages. 

. The  Larger  Bulbs.  London:  Batsford,  in 

association  with  the  Royal  Horticultural 
Society,  1978.  156  pages. 

S.  J.  Mayo.  A survey  of  cultivated  species  of 
Arisaema.  Plantsman,  Volume  3,  Number  4, 
pages  193  to  209  (March  1982). 

Nicholas  Nickou.  A unique  jack-in-the-pulpit. 
Bulletin  of  the  American  Rock  Garden 
Society,  Volume  43,  Number  3,  page  138 
(Summer  1985). 

Jisaburo  Ohwi.  Flora  of  Japan.  Edited  by  Frederick 
G.  Meyer  and  Egbert  H.  Walker.  Washington, 
D.  C.:  Smithsonian  Institution,  1965  (reprinted 
1984).  ix  + 1,067  pages. 


Judy  Glattstein  is  a landscape  consultant  who  spe- 
cializes in  perennial -border  design  and  the  use  of 
native  plants  in  the  landscape.  An  avid  horticulturist, 
she  chairs  the  Connecticut  Chapter  of  the  Ameri- 
can Rock  Garden  Society  and  teaches  at  the  New 
York  Botanical  Garden  and  the  Brooklyn  Botanic 
Garden. 


Books  35 


BOOKS 


Gathering  the  Desert,  by  Gary  Paul  Nabhan. 
Illustrated  by  Paul  Mirocha.  Tucson:  Univer- 
sity of  Arizona  Press,  1985.  ix  + 209  pages. 
$19.95. 


DAVID  C.  MICHENER 


Gathering  the  Desert  is  delightful  and  sly,  sly 
in  a roguish  way: 

Juan  Espinosa  . . . posed  there  for  a mo- 
ment, dwarfed  by  the  tall  rock  walls  of 
Canyon  de  Guadalupe,  the  stone  image  of 
the  Virgin  looking  down  upon  him. 

"Do  you  know  why  they  call  these  fruits 
chichicoyotas ?"  he  asked  in  Spanish,  a 
quizzical  look  on  his  face. 

"No,  why?,"  I replied,  sensing  that  his 
answer  might  be  one  of  numerous  folk 
variants.  The  name  chichicoyota  is  used 
for  several  species  of  wild  gourds  belonging 
to  the  genus  Cucuibita.  . . . 

"Pues,"  he  whispered,  tipping  his  hat 
back,  looking  around  to  see  if  anyone  else 
was  within  eye-  or  earshot.  . . . 

Thus  is  the  reader  introduced  to  the  book's 
humorously  titled  final  chapter,  "Good  to  the 
Bitter  End:  Wild  Desert  Gourds." 

Gathering  the  Desert  is  more  than  just  an 
ethnobotanical  study  of  twelve  native  Sono- 
ran Desert  plants;  it  is  a piece  of  literature 
punctuated  with  scientific  notes,  social  com- 
mentary, and  folklore.  Nabhan  repeatedly 
evokes  an  indelible  sense  of  place,  be  it  physi- 
cal or  cultural.  As  only  one  example,  he  closes 
his  essay-chapter  "Sandfood  and  Sand  Pa- 
pago:  A Wild  Kind  of  Mutualism"  with  subtle 
yet  pellucid  imagery: 


During  a full  moon,  go  south  of  the  border, 
between  the  Colorado  River  delta  and  the 
Pina  cate  lava  fields.  Stop  your  vehicle,  take 
your  shoes  off,  and  walk.  Walk  toward  the 
soft  shape  on  the  horizon,  dunes  like  hips 
of  women  sleeping  on  their  sides.  Wander 
through  the  tracks  of  sidewinders,  lizards, 
windswept  bushes,  and  beetles.  Look  down 
at  your  toes.  There  it  is,  like  another  moon 
coming  up  through  the  sand:  sandfood, 
reflecting  back  at  you. 

Each  of  the  book's  twelve  chapters  consid- 
ers but  one  plant  and  its  anthropological  set- 
ting. Nabhan's  style,  as  evidenced  in  such 
chapter  headings  as  "Mescal  Bancanora: 
Drinking  away  the  Centuries"  and  "For  the 
Birds:  The  Red-Hot  Mother  of  Chiles,"  is  to 
mix  humor  with  observations  on  the  cultural 
and  natural  history  of  the  plant.  In  "Mescal 
Bancanora"  one  learns  how  Agave  is  fer- 
mented to  produce  an  alcoholic  beverage  and 
then  how  overharvesting  of  the  plants  is  en- 
dangering the  nectar-feeding  bats  that  polli- 
nate them.  "For  the  Birds"  introduces  Jesuit 
missionaries,  mining  claims,  coevolutionary 
interactions  of  birds  and  chiles,  and  resis- 
tance to  phytopathic  viruses  into  a mix  as 
spicy  as  any  chile.  Perhaps  best  of  all  is 
"Tepary  Beans  and  Human  Beings  at 
Agriculture's  Arid  Limits."  Here,  twin 
themes  of  discovery  and  irony  organize  a 
botanical  query  into  "the  value  of  being 
ephemeral." 

Can  writing  that  is  delightful,  roguishly  sly, 
and  literary  also  be  scientifically  accurate? 
The  basic  answer  is,  "Yes,"  an  answer 
butressed  by  the  twenty-two-page  "Biblio- 
graphic Essay"  that  links  the  text  to  the  realm 
of  research  literature.  I have  reservations 


36  Books 


about  some  of  the  "coevolutionary  scenar- 
ios," however,  which  are  implicitly  pre- 
sented as  facts.  They  are  valid  scenarios  so 
long  as  they  are  represented  as  such:  I much 
appreciate  the  tone  of  Nabhan's  scenario  for 
sandfood — "a  wild  kind  of  mutualism."  Plau- 
sible, and  "wild!” 

In  1986,  Gathering  the  Desert  won  the 
prestigious  John  Burroughs  Medal,  which  is 
awarded  to  the  outstanding  piece  of  nature 
writing  published  during  the  preceding  calen- 
dar year.  Read  Gathering  the  Desert  and  enjoy 
it — the  illustrations,  the  text,  and  the  images 
evoked. 


David  C.  Michenei  directs  the  Arnold  Arboretum's 
Living  Collections  Verification  Project. 


t SEP  i 6 1987 


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,7: 


Volume  47  Number  3 Summer  1987 


Amoldia  (ISSN  0004-2633;  USPS  866-100)  is 
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Page 

2 El  Real  Jardfn  Botanico  de  Madrid  and  the 
Glorious  History  of  Botany  in  Spain 
Ricardo  R.  Austrich 

25  The  Madrid  Botanical  Garden  Today:  A 
Brief  Photographic  Portfolio 
Ricardo  R.  Austrich 
f.  Walter  Brain 

30  The  "Tapada  da  Ajuda,"  Portugal's  First 
Botanical  Garden 
Antonio  de  Almuda  Monteiro 
Jules  Janick 

39  Books 


Front  cover:  Mutisia  clematis  L.  /.,  member  of  a genus 
of  some  sixty  species  of  erect  or  climbing  shrubs  native 
to  the  higher  ranges  of  the  Andes.  Mutisia  was  named 
for  Jose  Celestino  Mutis  ( 1 732-1808),  a Spanish  botanist 
who  worked  in  Colombia.  From  Curtis’s  Botanical 
Magazine  (1911).  (See  page  2.)  Inside  front  cover:  The 
Marques  de  Pombal  presenting  his  plan  for  rebuilding 
Lisbon  to  his  architects  after  the  earthquake  of  Novem- 
ber 1755.  Courtesy  of  the  Lisbon  City  Museum.  (See 
page30.)  Inside  back  cover:  The  coast  redwood  [Sequoia 
sempervirens  (D.  Don]  Endlicher),  discovered  at  Mon- 
terey, California,  by  Thaddaus  Hanke,  a member  of 
Spain's  Malaspina  Expedition  of  1789-94.  Drawing  by 
Charles  Edward  Faxon  from  The  Silva  of  North  Amer- 
ica. From  the  Archives  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum.  (See 
page  2.)  Back  cover:  A vista  in  the  Ajuda  Botanical 
Garden,  Lisbon.  Photograph  by  Antonio  de  Almuda 
Monteiro.  (See  page  30.) 


El  Real  Jardin  Botanico  de  Madrid  and  the  Glorious 
History  of  Botany  in  Spain 


Ricardo  R.  Austrich 


The  vicissitudes  of  Madrid's  recently  restored  botanical  garden  reflect  the 
repeated  waxing  and  waning  of  the  plant  sciences  in  Spain  over  the  past 
two  centuries  or  more 


When  I was  in  high  school  I worked  as  a 
volunteer  at  the  Arnold  Arboretum,  develop- 
ing there  an  early  interest  in  arboreta  and  bo- 
tanical gardens  and  in  horticultural  exotica. 
Little  did  I realize  then  that  my  interest 
would  lead  me  as  a college  graduate  into  an 
historical  study  of  Spanish  gardens,  a study 
that  ultimately  would  take  me  to  superb  his- 
torical archives  in  some  of  Spain's  most 
famous  castles  and  palaces. 

My  historical  venture  was  launched  by 
some  inspiring  words  Eleanor  Perenyi  wrote 
about  the  garden  dahlia  in  her  book  Green 
Thoughts.  Unfortunately,  as  anyone  who  has 
attempted  research  knows,  getting  data  or 
information  is  seldom  as  simple  as  it  would 
seem  at  the  outset  of  a project.  There  were 
times  during  my  research  in  Spain  that  I 
would  remember  Linnaeus's  words,  expressed 
in  Bibliotheca  Botanica  (1751),  about  the 
state  of  Spanish  botany: 

[T]he  Spanish  flora  had  not  revealed  any  [new] 
plants,  such  that  in  the  most  fertile  regions  of 
Spain  there  are  plants  which  remain  to  be  dis- 
covered. It  is  cause  for  grief  that  in  the  more 
cultivated  places  of  Europe,  such  botanical  bar- 
barities exist  in  our  time.1 


A view  of  the  Madrid  Botanic  Garden  in  summer. 
Except  where  noted  otherwise,  the  photographs  accom- 
panying this  article  were  taken  by  the  author. 


Linnaeus's  acerbic,  though  at  the  time  apt,  ob- 
servation soon  would  be  out  of  date,  however, 
because  of  the  zeal  with  which  late-Eight- 
eenth  Century  Spain  took  to  botany  and  natu- 
ral history. 

The  result  of  my  research,  reported  here,  is 
the  story  of  Madrid's  Royal  Botanic  Garden — 
El  Real  Jardin  Botanico  de  Madrid — from  its 
humble  inception  as  a Court  curiosity  tended 
by  an  eager  coterie  of  physicians  and  intellec- 
tuals,- through  its  later  development  into  a 
thriving  center  of  learning,  plant  exploration, 
international  cooperation,  and  research;  its 
subsequent  decline  during  the  Nineteenth 
Century  and  continuing  decay  during  the 
better  part  of  the  Twentieth  Century,-  and  its 
recent  restoration  and  reestablishment  as  an 
important  Spanish  institution  of  research  and 
learning,  a fitting  symbol  of  post-Franco 
Spain. 

I emphasize  here  the  early  history  of  the 
Garden,  a fifty-year  period  studded  with  ex- 
citing exploration  for  exotic  plants  in  Spain's 
overseas  colonies.  Aside  from  the  Garden's 
recent  history,  this  is  perhaps  the  richest 
period  of  Spanish  botanical  development. 

The  Historical  Context 

Christopher  Columbus's  discovery  of  Amer- 
ica in  1492  had  significant  economic  and  ag- 


4 Madrid  Botanical  Garden 


ricultural  consequences  for  Europe.  Aside 
from  its  obvious  consequences — the  intro- 
duction and  use  of  the  potato,  maize,  and  the 
tomato  for  food,  for  example — it  had  pro- 
found significance  for  botany  and  medicine. 
Its  impact  was  not  felt  overnight,  however: 
Europeans  did  not  begin  to  develop  the  full 
scientific  potential  of  America  until  well  into 
the  Eighteenth  Century — more  than  two  cen- 
turies after  Columbus  made  his  discovery. 

The  discovery  placed  Spain  in  the  van- 
guard of  political  and  economic  activity.  It 
was  Spain  that  bore  the  initial  brunt  of  the 
marvels  and  riches  flowing  in  from  the  New 
World.  Aside  from  the  economic  and  political 
spoils  of  America — the  gold  and  the  silver — 
Spain  encountered  unimagined  biotic  riches. 
In  America,  the  Spanish  encountered  two 
major  advanced  civilizations,  the  Inca  and  the 
Aztec,  that  had  developed  important  medici- 
nal and  economic  uses  for  the  plants  and 
animals  of  those  vast,  uncharted  lands. 

There  are  two  important  time  periods  to 
consider  in  Spanish  botanical  history  and  its 
relation  to  America.  The  first  was  the  Six- 
teenth Century,  during  the  reign  of  Philip  II 
(Felipe  II;  1527-1598),  one  of  Europe's  most 
powerful  and  intellectual  monarchs,-  the  sec- 
ond was  the  Eighteenth  Century  Enlighten- 
ment and  the  Bourbon  Monarchy. 

During  the  Sixteenth  Century  there  were 
various  influential  Spanish  chroniclers  of  the 
Americas,  Gonzalo  Fernandez  de  Oviedo  y 
Valdes  (1478-1557),  with  his  Historia  Gen- 
eral y Natural  de  las  Indias  (Seville,  1535), 
being  perhaps  the  most  important.  Another 
important  person  was  Francisco  Hernandez 
(1514-1587),  Philip  II's  medical  examiner,  or 
protomedico,  who  was  sent  to  Nueva  Espana 
(New  Spain — i.  e.,  Mexico  and  other  Spanish 
possessions  in  North  America)  to  compile  a 
natural  history  of  the  region.  Arthur  Robert 
Steele,  in  his  book  Flowers  for  the  King,  suc- 
cinctly describes  the  significance  of  the 
Hernandez  Expedition:  "As  the  first  expedi- 
tion of  natural  history  ever  sent  out  by  a gov- 


ernment, the  Hernandez  venture  is  a land- 
mark in  the  annals  of  botanical  science."2 

With  the  death  of  Philip  II  in  1598  and  the 
advent  of  the  Seventeenth  Century,  Spain 
entered  a painfully  sterile  period  for  scientific 
inquiry.  The  Seventeenth  Century  was  an  era 
of  decadance  in  Spain,  during  which  Court 
intrigue  and  a series  of  ineffectual  monarchs 
undermined  Spain's  scientific  development. 
Further  progress  in  botany  had  to  await  the 
Eighteenth  Century,  anew  royal  dynasty,  and 
the  advancement  of  scientific  thought  by 
men  such  as  Tournefort  and  Linnaeus. 

The  Founding  of  Madrid's  Botanic  Garden 

Spain  entered  the  world  of  botanic  gardens 
rather  late,  if  we  are  to  judge  by  the  botanic 
gardens  in  other  countries — the  one  at  Padua, 
founded  in  1545,  for  example,  or  the  one  in 
Paris,  founded  in  1635.  Nevertheless,  the 
Real  Jardin  Botanico  de  Madrid  quickly  be- 
came the  symbol  of  what  is  called  the  Spanish 
Enlightenment.  Under  the  tutelage  of  Ferdi- 
nand VI,  a Bourbon  and  a direct  descendant  of 
Louis  XTV  of  France,  conditions  existed  for 
the  establishment  of  Spain's  first  true  botanic 
garden. 

An  important  person  in  the  development 
of  this  royal  institution  was  a physician  by 
the  name  of  Jose  Quer  y Martinez  (1695- 
1764).  Don  Quer  was  a medical  examiner  for 
His  Highness's  armed  forces,  and  like  any 
doctor  of  that  era  he  was  keenly  interested  in 
the  pharmacological  applications  of  plants. 
Apparently,  in  addition  to  owning  an 
extensive  library  on  medicine,  materia 
medica,  and  botany,  he  was  an  avid  gardener. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  monarch  took 
note  of  his  subject's  interest  in  plants.  For,  as 
Quer  wrote  in  Flora  Espahola, 

[Wjhen  His  Highness  was  informed  of  what  I pos- 
sessed and  cultivated  at  great  cost  and  struggle, 
and  if  truth  be  known  could  be  called  the  fruit  of 
many  travels  to  the  woods  and  valleys  of  this 
kingdom  to  acquire  not  only  the  plants  which 
grow  [here]  but  also  succulents  and  exotics, 


Madrid  Botanical  Garden  5 


Americans  and  Africans  and  others,  . . . did  His 
Highness  order  the  transfer  of  what  was  in  my  gar- 
den. . . .3 

It  was  most  likely  in  response  to  Don 
Quer's  zeal  and  the  very  real  need  of  the  royal 
pharmacies  that  Ferdinand  VI  ordered  the 
transfer  of  Quer's  plants  to  a property,  on  the 
outskirts  of  Madrid  near  the  Manzanares 
River,  known  as  El  Soto  de  Migas  Calientes 
(literally,  The  Orchard  of  Hot  Crumbs!).  The 
result  was  El  Jardin  Botanico  del  Soto  de 
Migas  Calientes,  the  first  botanic  garden  in 
Spain  subsidized  by  the  Crown. 

In  a letter  of  June  4,  1 754,  Jose  Ortega,  the 
chief  army  pharmacist  (died  1761),  wrote  to 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  the  Marques  de 
la  Ensenada  (1702-?  1781),  about  the  intense 
interest  in  Spanish  plants  that  he  had  encoun- 
tered while  travelling  through  the  capitals  of 
Europe.  Ortega  commented  on  his  and  Quer's 
collection  of  over  three  thousand  plants 
brought  from  the  "four  corners  of  the  earth," 
noting  "the  necessity  to  place  these  plants  in 
the  Royal  Garden  and  the  need  to  engage  in 
trade  with  foreign  botanists  in  order  to  in- 
crease their  number  by  the  active  exchange  of 
Spanish  plants  with  foreigners.  . . ."4 

Six  days  later,  on  June  10,  1754,  another 
letter  to  the  Marques  de  la  Ensenada,  this 
time  from  Jose  Sunol,  the  King's  physician, 
further  emphasized  Quer's  efforts  at  develop- 
ing a botanic  garden,  noting  that 


Ortega  and  the  aforementioned  Quer,  in  service  to 
His  Majesty  and  for  the  common  good  and  educa- 
tion, along  with  the  honor  of  the  nation,  establish 
the  Royal  Garden,  which  only  in  Spain  does  not 
exist,  as  in  all  the  other  courts  of  Europe.  . . .s 

Finally,  on  October  17,  1755,  official  word 
of  the  establishment  of  El  Real  Jardin  Bota- 
nico del  Soto  de  Migas  Calientes  was  given  by 
Ricardo  Wall  (1694-1778),  the  King's  chief 
minister.  Wall's  letter  declares  the 


Jose  Quer  y Martinez  (1695-1763),  whose  collection  of 
plants  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  botanical  garden  at 
Migas  Calientes,  predecessor  of  the  Royal  Botanical 
Garden  on  the  Paseo  del  Prado.  From  Flora  Espanola, 
Volume  5 (1784).  Courtesy  of  the  Real  Jardin  Botanico 
de  Madrid. 


King's  desires  for  the  advancement  of  the  Arts  and 
Sciences,  particularly  those  whose  progress 
promises  great  benefits  to  the  health  of  his  sub- 
jects, [and  it  states  that]  the  King  permits  the  use 
of  his  orchard  of  Migas  Calientes  to  the  end  that 
a Royal  Garden  of  plants  be  developed  so  that  in 
these  kingdoms  the  important  field  of  Botany  be 
developed.6 

Wall  went  on  to  name  the  director  and 
assistant  director  of  the  Garden,  Sunol  and 
Ortega,  respectively,  and  to  set  its  annual 


6 Madrid  Botanical  Garden 


A plan  of  El  Jardi'n  Botanico  de  Migas  Calientes  (1755- 
1781),  forerunner  of  the  Real  Jardi'n  Botanico  de  Madrid 
on  the  Paseo  del  Prado.  From  the  Archive  del  Palacio 
Real,  Madrid.  Courtesy  of  Monica  Luengo. 


budget.  Funding  during  the  Garden's  early 
period  came  from  the  College  of  King's  Physi- 
cians, or  Protomedicato.  The  funding  ar- 
rangement changed  in  1781,  during  the  reign 
of  Charles  III,  or  Carlos  III  ( 1 759-1788),  when 
the  Garden  was  moved  to  its  present  location 
near  the  Prado  Museum. 

These  exchanges  of  letters  between  minis- 
ters and  enlightened  subjects — mostly  physi- 
cians and  pharmacists — show  that  by  the 
middle  of  the  Eighteenth  Century  Spain  had 
developed  an  active  interest  in  the  natural 
sciences,  particularly  botany,  and  was  pre- 
pared to  bear  the  cost  of  developing  them. 


The  First  Spanish  Botanists 

Shortly  after  his  acerbic  comments  about 
Spanish  botany  were  published,  Linnseus 
received  an  invitation  from  Spain  to  send  a 
botanical  expert  to  that  nation  of  "botanical 
barbarities."  Linnaeus  chose  Pehr  Lofling 
(1729-1756),  one  of  his  trusted  pupils.  In 
Flowers  for  the  King,  Arthur  Steele  writes 
that  when  Lofling  arrived  in  Spain  in  October 
1751,  "the  newcomer  was  most  agreeably 
surprised — perhaps  openly  astonished  is 
more  apt — to  find  a small  coterie  of  botanists 
already  at  work."7  Steele  describes  five  of  the 
botanists  Lofling  encountered,  including  Jose 
Quer  and  Jose  Ortega,  along  with  Juan  Minu- 
art  (1693-1768)  and  Cristobal  Velez  (died 
1753).  As  we  have  already  seen,  Ortega  and 
Quer  were  instrumental  in  founding  the  bo- 
tanic garden  at  Migas  Calientes  four  years 
later. 

After  the  Royal  Decree  of  October  21, 
1755,  Quer  became  head  professor  in  the 
fledgling  institution,  Minuart  assistant  pro- 
fessor. Lofling  found  a decidedly  Tournefort- 
ian  view  of  botany  among  his  Spanish  col- 
leagues. This  is  understandable  because, 
during  the  early  Eighteenth  Century  the  lead- 
ing botanical  talents  in  Spain,  the  Salvador 
family  of  Barcelona,  had  assisted  Tournefort 
in  his  pursuit  of  Spanish  plants  and  hence 
were  close  adherents  of  the  Frenchman's  clas- 
sification system. 

Quer,  as  head  professor,  was  writing  a Flora 
Espahola,  but  it  was  not  completed  until  after 
his  death.  It  was  his  defense  of  Spanish  botany 
against  Linnseus's  comment  on  "botanical 
barbarities."  Therefore,  most  of  the  first  vol- 
ume of  the  Flora  was  given  over  to  a bitter 
diatribe  against  Linnseus's  accusations.  The 
last  two  volumes  of  the  Flora,  written  in  1 784 
by  Jose  Ortega's  nephew  Casimiro  Gomez 
Ortega  (1740-1818),  acknowledge  the  major 
shortcomings  of  Quer's  work. 

In  his  defense  of  Spanish  botany,  Quer 
writes  that  one  of  the  major  accomplish- 


Madrid  Botanical  Garden  7 


ments  of  the  Spanish  was  their  acclimatiza- 
tion of  countless  important  New  World 
plants.  Yet  the  Flora  reveals  that  by  1755  the 
Spanish  were  actively  cultivating  only  thirty- 
five  species  of  New  World  plants. 

Because  he  was  a physician,  Quer's  inter- 
est in  plants  was  limited  almost  exclusively 
to  those  that  could  be  used  in  materia  medica. 
Nevertheless,  he  does  writein  his  Flora  of 
other  plants,  such  as  Tropxolum  majus,  the 
garden  nasturtium  (in  defiance  of  Linnaeus, 
Quer  calls  it  Cardamindum  ampliori — a 
Tournefortian  determination).  "This  plant," 
he  writes, 

is  grown  in  pots  and  containers  in  the  gardens  of 
Madrid.  It  came  to  Spain  from  Peru  by  the  hands 
of  our  discoverers,  where  it  grows  in  abundance  in 
moist  and  swampy  terrains. . . . [T]he  plant  is  used 
to  adorn  balconies  where,  protected  from  the  cold, 
it  flowers  all  year.8 

(Perhaps  the  most  thought-provoking  and 
personally  meaningful  comment  I found  in 
Quer's  Flora  was  a reference  to  Robinia  pseu- 
doacacia, the  black  locust,  another  New 
World  exotic:  "[F]rom  the  wood  of  this  tree, 
the  majority  of  the  buildings  in  Boston  are 
built,"  it  informed  me.9  Reading  this  intrigu- 
ing fact  in  the  very  heart  of  modern  Madrid,  I 
could  not  help  but  smile  and  wonder  whether 
it  had  lain  there  in  waiting  for  two  and  a half 
centuries,  to  be  read  with  fascination  by  this 
young,  latter-day  Bostonian.) 

Meanwhile,  Jose  Ortega  was  busily  trying 
to  get  the  Royal  Botanic  Garden  "off  the 
ground."  On  June  20,  1756,  Jose  Sunol,  the 
Garden's  acting  director,  sought  funding 
from  the  College  of  King's  Physicians  for  the 
expenses  Ortega  had  incurred  during  the  pre- 
vious year's  operation.  One  of  Ortega's  princi- 
pal concerns  was  the  faulty  pipe  supplying 
water  to  the  Garden,  a concern  reflecting  the 
Garden's  location  in  an  arid  region.  Also, 
Ortega  requested  funds  to  construct  a green- 


FLORA  ESPANOLA, 

6 

H I S T O R I A 

DE  LAS  PLANTAS. 

que  se  crian  en  ESP aSi  a. 

S U A U T O R 

2).  JOSEPH  QUEK,  CWJJJK9  ‘DE  S M 

Conjultor  de  fus  'Rcalet  Exercitos , Academico  del  Ir.Jlitu- 
to  de  Bolonia , de  la  Pea!  Medica  Matrttenji , y Pri- 
mer Profejfor  de  Botanica  del  Bgal  Jsrdin  de 
Plantas  dc  Madrid. 


CON  LICENCIA. 


Madrid.  Pot  Joachin  Irarra  , calle  dc  las  Ucoias , 176*. 
Sf  hollar*  en  iafa  Je  ©.  Angel  Corrali , calle  Je  las  Carr  etas. 


The  title  page  of  lose  Quer’s  Flora  Espanola  (1762) 
Courtesy  of  the  Real  fardfn  Botdnico  de  Madrid. 

house  for  the  conservation  of  "foreign 
plants."  In  his  request,  Ortega  proposed  that 
the  greatest  Spanish  architect  of  that  era, 
Ventura  Rodriguez  Tizon  (1717-1785),  be 
commissioned  for  the  task — proof  of  the 
Court's  high  regard  for  the  Garden. 

In  Ortega's  letters  to  his  superiors,  he  ex- 
presses many  of  the  concerns  about  the  day- 
to-day  operation  of  his  garden  that  modern 
staff  members  and  managers  feel  for  the  or- 
derly running  of  their  institutions: — budget 
constraints,  difficulties  with  contractors, 
maintenance  of  grounds,  and  public  rela- 
tions. In  a letter  of  May  21,  1756,  Ortega  de- 
scribes the  transformation  of  El  Soto  de  Migas 


8 Madrid  Botanical  Garden 


Three  plates  from  Jose  Quei’s  Flora  Espanola.  Left:  "Acer  montanum";  right:  Fragaria  chiloensis,-  opposite:  "Cardamin- 
dum  ampliori"  (Tropaeolum  majusj.  Because  he  resented  Linnseus’s  indictment  of  Spanish  botany,  Quer  insisted  upon 
using  Tournefortian  nomenclature. 


Calientes  into  El  Jardin  Botanico  de  Migas 
Calientes. 

He  describes  the  transplanting  of  the 
Orchard's  fruit  trees  and  vegetable  gardens  so 
as  to  make  way  for  the  parterres  that  would  be 
needed  for  the  formal  botanic  garden.  In 
terms  of  overall  design,  the  Garden  offered  no 
noteworthy  innovations;  looking  much  like  a 
typical  Seventeenth  or  Eighteenth  Century 
non-English,  rectangular,  parterred  botanic 
garden,  it  was  reminiscent  of  the  earliest  bo- 
tanical garden,  that  in  Padua.  Ortega  writes 
that " 12  large  beds  were  formed  with  four  par- 
terres. . . ."10 

Ortega  also  comments,  in  familiar  horti- 
cultural terms,  on  the  importance  of  adding 


manure  to  the  soil,  "which  was  malnour- 
ished, and  [it]  had  been  many  years  since  this 
beneficial  procedure  was  performed."  He 
uses  similar  terms  to  describe  the  benefits  of 
loam.  As  in  many  Spanish  gardens,  one  of  the 
basic  plant  materials  used  was  boxwood,  in 
this  instance  to  outline  the  twelve  newly 
formed  beds.  The  fruit  trees  were  replaced 
"with  species  appropriate  to  a botanic  garden, 
particularly  lindens,  horsechestnuts,  and 
elms."11 

In  his  closing  remarks,  Ortega  makes  a 
public-relations  "pitch"  to  his  Court  superi- 
ors, writing  that  "even  though  the  garden  is 
scarcely  four  months  old . . . there  are  numer- 
ous plants,  many  being  the  rarest  of  Europe, 


Madrid  Botanical  Carden  9 


Africa,  Asia,  and  America."  In  another  letter 
from  the  same  period,  Ortega  continues  in  the 
same  public-relations  vein  when  he  com- 
ments "on  the  growing  beauty  of  the  garden, 
which  is  gaining  the  admiration  of  the  popu- 
lace, and  the  visiting  foreigners." 

Much  of  the  information  about  the  earliest 
years  of  the  Real  Jardin  Botanico  de  Madrid 
( 1 755  through  1 78 1 ) I gleaned  from  the  count- 
less budget  statements  and  other  documents 
housed  in  an  archive  called  "Simancas."  The 
"Archivo  General  de  Simancas"  was  estab- 
lished in  the  early  Sixteenth  Century  by 
Charles  I (Carlos  I)  of  Spain  (who  was  also 
Charles  V,  or  Karl  V,  of  Germany)  in  the  heart 
of  northern  Castile,  one  hundred  sixty  kilo- 


meters (one  hundred  miles)  north-northwest 
of  Madrid. 

From  these  documents  we  can  trace  the 
early  development  of  the  Garden.  For  ex- 
ample, the  budget  statement  for  1 76 1 reports 
that  the  following  items  were  purchased: 
glass  for  the  "conservatory  of  exotic  plants," 
"two  large  tables  and  four  benches  for  use  in 
Botany  lessons,"  and  various  other  garden 
supplies.  That  same  year  Jose  Ortega  sought 
funding  for  plant-collecting  trips  to  various 
regions  of  the  Iberian  Peninsula  in  order  to  in- 
crease the  number  of  plants  growing  in  the 
garden.  By  1765  budget  statements  regularly 
included  costs  for  plant-collecting  trips  on 
the  Peninsula. 

These  activities  at  Migas  Calientes  show 
us  that  it  was  a working  botanic  garden  in  the 
modern  sense  of  the  term.  Often,  when  look- 
ing at  Spanish  garden  history,  I have  encoun- 
tered reports  of  Sixteenth  Century  "botanic 
gardens"  which  turned  out  to  have  been  no 
more  than  the  gardens  of  zealous  individuals 
that  seldom  outlived  their  founders. 

Quer  died  in  1764,  and  Miguel  Barnades 
(1708-1771)  became  the  head  professor  at 
Migas  Calientes.  This  was  an  important  turn 
of  events  because,  unfortunately,  Quer  had 
never  forgiven  Linnaeus  his  reference  to 
Spain's  "botanical  barbarities."  Happily  for 
Spanish  botany,  Barnades  overcame  Quer's 
grudge  against  the  Swede.  He  clearly  under- 
stood the  Linnaean  system's  advantages  and 
began  Spain's  adoption  of  the  Systema  sexu- 
ale. 

Charles  III  (1759-1788)  and  the  Spanish 
Enlightenment 

With  Barnades's  death  in  1771,  Arthur  Steele 
tells  us,  "a  new  man — a young  one — was 
ready  to  step  into  the  chair.  He  was  Casimiro 
Gomez  Ortega,  and  as  Joseph  Ortega's 
nephew  he  had  been  trained  in  the  ways  of 
botany  from  the  first.  ..."  Gomez  Ortega 
would  become  the  consummate  administra- 


10  Madrid  Botanical  Garden 


tor  of  the  Real  Jardin  Botanico  de  Madrid.  Un- 
der his  stewardship  the  Garden  developed 
during  the  late  Eighteenth  Century  into  a 
thriving  center  of  botanical  investigation, 
with  far-flung  projects  of  exploration,  clas- 
sification, and  cultivation. 

Shortly  after  Gomez  Ortega  assumed  his 
post  at  Migas  Calientes,  the  Garden  buzzed 
with  activity.  Seeds  and  plants,  either  pur- 
chased or  collected  in  the  provinces  of  Spain, 
arrived  with  great  frequency.  The  botany 
classes  continued,  with  money  going  to  the 
printing  of  placards  for  use  in  botany  lessons. 
The  classes  reflected  the  priority  that  educa- 
tion held  during  the  Garden's  first  fifty  years. 
When  the  Garden  was  established  in  1 755,  its 
focus  had  seemed  geared  to  developing  a col- 
lection of  exotics  from  all  parts  of  the  earth, 
but  by  the  time  Gomez  Ortega  became  head 
professor  the  emphasis  had  changed,  and 
education  became  a key  role  of  the  Garden. 
Given  Spain's  need  for  technically  proficient 
botanists  and  naturalists  able  to  understand 
and  develop  the  vast  natural  resources  of  the 
colonies,  it  was  a wise  shift  in  emphasis. 

During  this  early  period,  in  1773,  the  Gar- 
den began  to  heat  the  greenhouse  of  exotic 
plants  with  coal.  Thus,  as  early  as  1773  the 
Spanish  were  able  to  raise  tropical  and  sub- 
tropical plants  in  Madrid's  temperate  cli- 
mate. Spanish  botanists  could  now  study, 
introduce,  and  acclimate  a wide  range  of 
plants  available  from  their  vast  colonial 
domains  in  the  New  World.  They  undertook 
the  task  with  remarkable  vigor  and  determi- 
nation during  the  last  quarter  of  the  century. 

The  Garden  Moves  to  the  Paseo  del  Prado 
(1778-1781) 

By  1 775,  plans  were  being  developed  to  move 
the  Garden  from  its  remote  location  in  the 
outskirts  of  Madrid  at  Migas  Calientes  to  a 
more  prominent  site  within  the  city.  This 
was  part  of  Bourbon  King  Charles  Ill's  urban- 
renewal  scheme  for  Madrid,  whereby  the 


Mediaeval  agglomeration  of  streets  was  to  be 
superseded  by  grand  boulevards.  The  place- 
ment of  the  Garden  was  an  essential  element 
of  the  plan.  A site  for  the  new  Garden  was 
selected  on  the  Paseo  del  Prado  (literally,  the 
"Walk  by  the  Meadow,"  in  reference  to  the 
numerous  meadows  and  orchards),  near  the 
Retiro  Royal  Park.  The  Garden  was  to  be 
placed  next  to  the  planned  Museum  of  Natu- 
ral History,  where  many  objects  brought  back 
from  the  colonies  were  to  be  housed.  The 
Natural  History  Museum  would  later  be- 
come the  Prado  Art  Museum.  This  complex 
of  botanic  garden  and  natural  history  mu- 
seum situated  along  a prominent  boulevard 
was  a planning  concept,  developed  by  the 
Court  of  Charles  III  for  Madrid,  that  re- 
sembles today's  "technological  highways" 
and  "research  parks." 

In  a revealing  exchange  of  letters  between 
two  of  the  King's  ministers,  the  Duque  de 
Losada  (who  was  Sumiller  de  Corps,  or  Lord 
Chamberlain)  and  the  Marques  de  Grimaldi 
(Secretario  de  Estado,  or  Secretary  of  State), 
Losada  writes,  on  September  12,  1778,  about 
the  plans  for  the  new  garden  presented  by 
Francisco  Sabatini  (1721-1 797),  another  well 
known  architect  of  the  period  who  was  re- 
sponsible for  several  major  projects  in 
Madrid.  Losada  writes  that 

in  the  formation  of  the  Madrid  Botanic  Garden  at 
the  site  of  the  orchards  of  the  old  Prado,  two  con- 
cerns were  kept  in  mind,  the  first  being  to  facili- 
tate the  teaching  of  botany  while  having  close  at 
hand  the  garden  and  the  school  . . . the  other 
being,  the  beautification  of  the  public  "Paseo  del 
Prado  de  Madrid"  with  a plan  where  good  taste 
and  regularity  [i.e.,  symmetry]  are  prevalent.12 

The  Duque  de  Losada's  wish  for  symmetry 
and  taste  was  eloquently  served  by  Sabatini's 
plan.  A central  axis  dividing  two  symmetrical 
parterred  spaces  was  proposed;  the  parterres 
were  divided  into  three  ascending  tiers,  with 
the  ascending  levels  highlighting  the  par- 


Madrid  Botanical  Carden  1 1 


Plano  del  Jardin  Botanico  de  Madrid  inaugurado 

E>;: : ACION  EN  1781 


Plan  showing  the  original  layout  of  the  Madrid  Botanical  Garden.  The  King’s  wish  for  "regularity"  is  amply  fulfilled. 
From  Anales  de  la  Sociedad  Espanola  de  Historia  Natural  (1875). 


terres  at  each  preceding  level.  The  central 
axis  terminated  on  the  fagade  of  the  long  con- 
servatories at  the  end  of  the  site.  Originally, 
Gomez  Ortega  had  requested  iron  structures 
for  the  conservatories,  but  the  King's  wish  for 
"beauty  and  regularity"  on  this  prominent 
site  dictated  that  stone  masonry  and  pillars  be 
used. 

The  teaching  of  botany  was  ingeniously 
incorporated  in  the  design  by  the  designation 
of  twenty-four  beds  in  the  parterres  as  "escue- 
las  botanicas"  ("schools  of  botany"),  in 
which  each  of  Linnaeus's  twenty-four  classes 
of  plants,  based  on  stamen  numbers,  could  be 
represented  with  plant  materials  from  each 
class.  The  idea  of  arranging  plants  in  a botanic 
garden  according  to  their  position  in  the  Plant 
Kingdom  was  echoed  a century  later  in 
Frederick  Law  Olmsted's  plan  for  the  Arnold 
Arboretum. 


In  1 778,  the  Crown  spent  one  million,  two 
hundred  thousand  reales  on  the  development 
of  the  new  botanic  garden.  This  figure  illus- 
trates the  lengths  to  which  Spain  was  willing 
to  go  in  pursuing  Charles  Ill's  favorite  hobby, 
botany.  In  1781,  the  Real  Jardin  Botanico  de 
Madrid  was  opened  with  much  fanfare  and 
high  hopes.  Casimiro  Gomez  Ortega  pre- 
sented His  Highness  with  an  herbarium  and 
dedicated  the  main  entrance  gate — for  use 
only  during  Royal  occasions — with  an  in- 
scription in  honor  of  Charles  III. 

After  the  Garden  moved  to  its  present  loca- 
tion in  1781,  the  number  of  plants  coming  in 
reached  dizzying  proportions.  They  came  not 
only  from  the  capitals  of  Europe  but  from 
Royal  Expeditions  to  various  parts  of  Central 
America  and  South  America.  In  the  Real 
Jardin  Botanico  de  Madrid  there  are  countless 
lists  of  plants  arriving  from  such  people  as  Dr. 


12  Madrid  Botanical  Garden 


La  Puerto  del  Rey — the  Main,  or  Royal,  Gate  of  the  Madrid  Botanical  Garden.  It  is  dedicated  to  “Carolus  III.  P.  P. 
Botanices  Instaurator  Civium  Saluti  et  Oblectamento.  Anno  MDCCLXXX1."  From  Anales  de  la  Sociedad  Espanola  de 
Historia  Natural  (1875). 


Fothergill  of  London,  from  botanic  gardens  in 
France  and  Italy,  and  from  the  colonies  of 
Peru,  Cuba,  Mexico,  and  so  on. 

Particularly  noteworthy  are  requests  for 
seeds  from  Chile  and  Peru  by  L'Heritier  in 


Paris  in  1 782  and  by  }ohn  Gedds  (Geddes? ) and 
John  Hope  (1766-1844)  of  the  Royal  Botanic 
Garden  in  Edinburgh.13  Most  likely  word  was 
circulating  through  Europe  that  Spain  had 
sent  several  botanical  expeditions  to  the  New 


Madrid  Botanical  Garden  13 


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Lists  of  seeds  available  through  the  Garden's  seed  exchange  (January  1793).  Note  Cosmus  (i.e.,  CosmosJ  sulphureus  near 
the  middle  of  the  list  on  the  right.  From  the  Archives  of  the  Real  Jardin  Botanico  de  Madrid  (Division  I,  Legajo  6,  4,  1) 
through  the  courtesy  of  its  Director,  Dr.  Santiago  Castroviejo. 


World,  the  Ruiz  and  Pavon  Expedition  to  Peru 
and  Chile  in  particular.  Later,  Gomez  Ortega 
expanded  the  Garden's  acquisition  potential 
by  developing  a correspondence  program 
whereby  learned  men  would  send  seeds  and 
plants  to  Madrid  from  outposts  in  the  Spanish 
colonies  and  from  the  capitals  of  Europe. 

Under  Gomez  Ortega's  administration 
(1771-1801),  botanic  gardens  were  estab- 
lished in  the  Spanish  colonies,  the  most  no- 
table being  that  in  Mexico.  He  oversaw  the 
development  in  Spain  of  other  botanical  gar- 
dens, in  milder  regions  better  suited  for  the 
acclimatization  of  New  World  plants  (in 
Valencia,  for  example),  and  on  Tenerife  in  the 
Canary  Islands. 

An  important  measure  of  Spain's  desire  to 


exploit  the  vast  botanical  potential  of  its  New 
World  colonies  by  acquiring,  cultivating,  and 
scientifically  studying  plant  materials,  and  to 
a great  extent  the  reason  for  the  extensive 
shipments  of  plants  made  during  the  remain- 
ing part  of  the  century,  was  the  publication  in 
1 779  of  a treatise  by  Casimiro  Gomez  Ortega, 
Instruccion  sobre  el  Modo  Mas  Seguro  y 
Economico  de  Transportar  Plantas  Vivas  por 
Mar  y por  Tierra  a los  Pafses  Mas  Distantes 
( Instruction  on  the  Safest  and  Most  Economi- 
cal Method  of  Transporting  Live  Plants  by 
Sea  and  by  Land  to  the  Most  Distant  Coun- 
tries).1* The  Instruccion  was  illustrated  with 
figures  of  the  construction  of  glass-covered 
wooden  boxes  for  the  transport  overseas  of 
living  plants,  and  included  practical  ex- 


14  Madrid  Botanical  Garden 


Diagrams  of  glass-covered  wooden  boxes,  or  cases,  used 
to  transport  living  plants.  From  Casimiro  Gomez  Orte- 
ga’s Instruccion  (1 779).  Archivos  General  de  las  Indias, 
Seville. 

amples  of  the  acclimatization  of  foreign 
plants  in  Spain.  These  boxes  antedate  by 
more  than  fifty  years  the  first  documented 
use  of  Wardian  cases  by  the  British.  (Gomez 
Ortega  does  cite  British  and  French  accom- 
plishments in  the  transport  of  plants.) 

In  addition,  the  Instruccion  is  sprinkled 
with  practical  horticultural  information  on 
the  propagation  and  viability  of  seeds,  as  well 
as  on  various  methods  of  vegetative  propaga- 
tion. There  is  even  an  excerpt  from  a royal 
decree  stressing  the  economic  and  ornamen- 
tal importance  of  this  plant  material  to  Spain. 
The  decree  also  mentions  the  need  to  distrib- 
ute the  Instruccion  not  only  to  Spanish  offi- 


cialdom in  the  colonies,  but  to  all  interested 
individuals  in  the  colonies,  mentioning  in 
particular  the  clergy,  who  were  in  most  in- 
stances at  the  frontline  of  unexplored  territo- 
ries and  who  were  undoubtedly  the  better- 
educated  individuals  in  those  regions. 

Spain's  Expeditions  to  America  (1777-1808) 
Perhaps  the  most  significant  and  most  widely 
studied  endeavors  undertaken  by  the  Spanish 
Crown  on  behalf  of  New  World  natural  his- 
tory occurred  under  Casimiro  Gomez  Orte- 
ga's stewardship  of  the  Real  Jardin  Botanico 
de  Madrid  from  1771  to  1801.  During  the  last 
quarter  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,  Spain 
sponsored  four  major  scientific  expeditions  of 
a decidedly  botanical  character  to  the  colo- 
nies. 

The  first  was  the  Ruiz  and  Pavon  Expedi- 
tion to  the  kingdoms  of  Peru  and  Chile  ( 1 777- 
1788).  Later  (1783-1808),  the  Botanic  Garden 
assisted  the  work  of  a priest  and  naturalist 
named  Jose  Celestino  Bruno  Mutis  y Bosio 
(1732-1808)  in  his  long-term  study  of  the 
flora  of  New  Granada,  or  Colombia.  In  addi- 
tion, there  was  the  Royal  Scientific  Expedi- 
tion to  New  Spain  (Mexico)  (1787-1803), 
whose  plants  had  fascinated  the  Spanish 
since  the  time  of  Francisco  Hernandez  in  the 
1570s.  The  last  of  Spain's  great  expeditions 
was  a global  voyage  of  discovery,  the  Malas- 
pina  Expedition  (1789-1794). 

All  of  these  expeditions  yielded  large 
amounts  of  data  on  the  natural  history  of 
Spain's  dominions.  Perhaps  the  richest 
amassing  of  data  occurred  on  behalf  of  bot- 
any, for  the  Spanish  discovered  many  new 
species.  Their  observations  and  painstaking 
examinations  of  the  diverse  flora  of  these 
regions  yielded  vast  quantities  of  descrip- 
tions, drawings,  sketches,  watercolors,  and 
herbarium  specimens,  as  well  as  numerous 
trial  cultivations  in  Madrid  and  other,  more 
climatically  appropriate  botanic  gardens  in 
Spain. 


Madrid  Botanical  Garden  1 5 


Sadly,  however,  the  full  potential  of  Span- 
ish botany  during  the  Eighteenth  Century  re- 
mained largely  unfulfilled.  The  Nineteenth 
Century  had  some  cruel  hardships  in  store  for 
Spain  that  would  lead  this  scientific  windfall 
to  remain  dormant  and  forgotten  for  nearly  a 
century  and  a half  after  these  exciting  voyages 
of  discovery  took  place.  Not  until  relatively 
recently  has  the  scientific  potential  of  the 
Spanish  Enlightenment  come  again  to  the  at- 
tention of  scholars. 

The  Ruiz  and  Pavon  Expedition  (1777- 
1788).  Perhaps  the  best  documented  and  most 
carefully  studied  Spanish  expedition  to  the 
New  World  was  the  Ruiz  and  Pavon  Expedi- 
tion to  the  kingdoms  of  Chile  and  Peru  of 
1777-1778.  The  landmark  study  of  this  im- 
portant expedition  is  Arthur  Steele's  Flowers 
for  the  King.  A remarkable  book,  it  was  one  of 
the  first  and  best  attempts  at  careful,  schol- 
arly analysis  of  the  Expedition,  its  partici- 
pants, goals,  and  accomplishments. 

This  arduous,  eleven-year  expedition  to 
Chile  and  Peru  was  a cooperative  effort  be- 
tween the  governments  of  Spain  and  France. 
The  French,  who  had  pressured  the  Spanish 
for  an  expedition  to  these  kingdoms  in  order 
to  recover  the  long-lost  manuscripts  of  Joseph 
de  Jussieu  (1704-1 779),  appointed  Joseph 
Dombey  (1742-1794),  a well  established 
botanist,  to  the  Expedition.  The  Spanish  pro- 
vided most  of  the  manpower  that  made  the 
exploration  possible.  In  addition  to  appoint- 
ing draftsmen  and  painters  to  the  Expedition, 
Gomez  Ortega  selected  two  bright,  young 
botany  graduate  students  from  Madrid, 
Hipolito  Ruiz  Lopez  (1754-1816)  and  Jose 
Antonio  Pavon  y Jimenez  (1754-1840).  Both 
were  twenty-three  at  the  time  of  their  depar- 
ture in  1 777  and  both — Ruiz  in  particular — 
were  to  make  the  most  significant  contribu- 
tions of  the  Expedition. 

Through  the  ceaseless  efforts  of  Hipolito 
Ruiz,  the  Expedition  contributed  more  to  the 
early  understanding  of  New  World  plants 
than  any  other  Spanish  expedition.  In  addi- 


tion to  publishing  Flora  Peruviana,  et  Chilen- 
sis  (1798-1802),  a project  that  was  never 
completed  because  of  the  disastrous  turn  of 
events  in  Spain  at  the  beginning  of  Nine- 
teenth Century,  the  Ruiz  and  Pavon  Expedi- 
tion also  probably  yielded  most  in  terms  of 
the  cultivation  and  acclimatization  of  New 
World  plants  in  Spain — Alstroemeria  haem- 
antha  Ruiz  St  Pavon,  Brugmansia  sanguinea 
(Ruiz  St  Pavon)  D.  Don  ( Datura  sanguinea 
Ruiz  St  Pavon),  Fuchsia  corymbiflora  Ruiz  St 
Pavon,  Fuchsia  magellanica  var.  macro- 
sterna  Ruiz  S.  Pavon,  etc. 

Jose  Celestino  Mutis  in  New  Granada 
(1760-1808).  The  work  of  Jose  Celestino 
Mutis  in  the  Kingdom  of  New  Granada,  or 
Colombia,  amounted  to  a one-man  expedi- 
tion. Mutis  was  aided  by  a team  of  local 
draftsmen  and  painters,  whom  he  had  as- 
sembled for  the  arduous  task  of  collecting, 
dissecting,  and  drawing  more  than  five  thou- 
sand black-and-white  and  color  illustrations 
of  that  region's  flora. 

The  Mutis  venture  was  testimony  to  a 
single-minded  enthusiasm  for  botany.  Mutis 
had  set  off  for  America  in  1760,  independent 
of  government  initiation,  to  study  firsthand 
the  natural  history  of  the  colonies  while 
working  as  a physician  to  the  Virey  (Viceroy, 
or  "Governor")  of  New  Granada.  He  died  in 
1808,  in  New  Granada. 

During  his  early  years,  Mutis  had  made 
various  requests  to  the  Court  of  Charles  III  for 
permission  to  devote  his  time  fully  to  the 
study  of  the  flora  of  New  Granada,  but  his  re- 
quests went  unheeded;  nevertheless,  he  en- 
tered into  correspondence  with  Linnaeus, 
sending  him  various  samples  of  plants,  in- 
cluding quinine,  or  Cinchona  sp.  Not  until 
1782  did  Mutis  finally  receive  approval  for  his 
study,  which  was  known  as  the  Real  Expe- 
dition al  Nuevo  Reino  de  Granada  (1783- 
1808). 

Mutis's  dedication  and  fervor  were  bound- 
less,- he  compiled  immense  amounts  of  mate- 
rial, both  herbarium  specimens  and  illustra- 


16  Madrid  Botanical  Garden 


tions.  Yet  the  results  of  his  work  had  little 
impact  on  what  was  taking  place  in  Madrid 
for,  unlike  Ruiz  and  Pavon,  he  had  not  been 
selected  by  Gomez  Ortega,  and  thus  his 
"Expedition"  had  no  administrative  support 
back  in  Madrid.  This  may  explain  why 
Mutis's  results  remained  unpublished  during 
his  lifetime  and  why,  after  the  many  herbar- 
ium specimens  and  exquisite  illustrations 
were  deposited  in  Madrid  in  the  1830s,  they 
remained  largely  unexamined  for  nearly  a 
century.  This  may  also  explain  why  his  study 
had  little  to  offer  in  terms  of  the  cultivation  of 
New  World  plants  in  Spain. 

Perhaps  the  only  real  recognition  Mutis 
received  during  his  life  was  that  offered  in 
1803  by  Alexander  von  Humboldt  ( 1 769— 
1 859)  duringa  visit  to  Mutis  in  Colombia.  Ap- 
parently, Mutis,  nearing  the  end  of  his  life, 
gave  von  Humboldt  many  duplicates  of  his 
own  specimens  and  illustrations.  Von  Hum- 
boldt freely  accepted  these  valuable  offerings 
and  used  much  of  the  material  in  Plantaz 
dEquinoctiales  (Paris,  1808),  his  flora  of  Cen- 
tral and  South  America.  Von  Humboldt  (and 
his  coauthor,  Aime  Bonpland)  dedicated  the 
flora  to  Mutis.15 


Martin  Sesse's  Expedition  to  New  Spain 
(1787-1803).  One  of  the  last  major  Spanish 
botanical  expeditions  was  the  Royal  Scien- 
tific Expedition  to  New  Spain,  as  Mexico  and 
the  other  Spanish  territories  in  North  Amer- 
ica were  called.  This  endeavor  (called  the 
"Sesse  and  Mocino  Expedition"  or,  officially, 
La  Expedicion  Botanica  al  Reino  de  Nueva 
Espana)  began  in  1787  and  ended  in  1803.  It 
bore  some  resemblance  to  the  Mutis  venture 
in  having  been  initiated  by  a naturalist  and 
physician  who  was  already  living  in  the  New 
World — Martin  de  Sesse  y Lacasta  (1751- 
1809).  It  differed  from  Mutis's  in  that  Sesse 
developed  direct  ties  with  Casimiro  Gomez 
Ortega,  who  got  for  Sesse  both  financial  sup- 
port and  the  necessary  Royal  Decree.  Martin 
Sesse's  objective  was  not  only  the  botanical 
exploration  of  Mexico  but  the  establishment 
there  of  a botanical  garden.  Also  appointed  as 
botanists  on  the  Expedition  were  Vicente 
Cervantes  (1755-1829)  and  Jose  Mariano 
Mocino  (1757-1820).  Gomez  Ortega's  main 
objective  in  supporting  Sesse  was  to  acquire 
new  plants  and  seeds  for  the  Real  Jardin 
Botanico  de  Madrid. 

This,  perhaps,  is  where  the  Expedition  was 


Mexico  City  in  1823.  At  middle  left  is  the  hill  of  Chapultepec,  crowned  by  the  unfinished  Royal  Palace,  whose  gardens 
were  the  site  of  the  Real  Jardin  Botanico  de  Mexico  from  1791  until  the  Garden  ceased  to  exist  some  time  after  1824. 
The  Potrero  de  Atlampa,  at  the  far  edge  of  the  wet,  marshy  area  between  Chapultepec  and  the  city  itself  (foreground), 
was  the  site  of  the  Garden  from  its  founding  by  Martin  Sesse  in  1787  until  the  move  to  the  Palace  grounds.  Its  wetness 
made  it  unsuitable.  From  Chronica  Botanica  (1947),  after  W.  Bullock,  Six  Month  Residence  and  Travels  in  Mexico  (1824). 


Madrid  Botanical  Garden  1 7 


Portrait  of  Jose  Celestino  Bruno  Mutis  y Bosio  (1732-1808)  in  Alexander  von  Humboldt  and  Aime  Bonpland’s  flora  of 
Central  and  South  America,  Plantae  /£quinoctiales  (1808),  which  was  dedicated  to  Mutis  for  his  single-minded  devotion 
to  botany.  For  twenty-two  years  (1760-1782)  Mutis  independently  pursued  his  botanical  studies  in  New  Granada 
(Colombia),  finally  receiving  approval  from  the  King  in  1782. 


18  Madrid  Botanical  Garden 


Map  of  the  explorations  made  in  New  Spain  by  Jose  Mociho,  1 790-1 793  and  1 795-1 799.  From  Harold  William  Rickett, 
The  Royal  Botanical  Expedition  to  New  Spain  1788-1820,  Chronica  Botanica,  Volume  11  (1947). 


most  successful.  Its  success  is  evident  in  the 
large  number  of  seeds  and  plants  that  were  re- 
corded as  having  entered  the  Botanic  Garden 
while  it  was  under  way  (1787-1804).  Thanks 
to  the  Sesse  Expedition,  plants  such  as  Cos- 
mos spp.  and  Dahlia  spp.  arrived  in  Madrid, 
whence  they  were  disseminated  to  the  rest  of 
Europe. 

The  Sesse  Expedition  never  published  the 
results  of  its  labors  in  a "Flora  Mexicana," 
again  because  of  the  disastrous  disruption 
Spain  experienced  in  the  next  century.  Flora 
Mexicana  and  Plantas  de  Nueva  Espaha 
were  not  published  until  1893  and  1894,  re- 
spectively, by  the  Sociedad  de  Historia  Natu- 
ral de  Mexico. 


The  Malaspina  Expedition  (1789-1794). 
The  last  major  expedition  undertaken  by  the 
Spanish  Crown  was  the  globe-girdling  Malas- 
pina Expedition  of  1789-1794.  Iris  H.  W. 
Engstrand's  study,  Spanish  Scientists  in  the 
New  World,  skillfully  chronicles  the  scope 
and  breadth  of  the  Expedition.  Its  namesake, 
Alejandro  Malaspina  (1754-1809),  a re- 
nowned navigator,  was  commissioned  by 
Charles  IV  to  conduct  a natural  history  expe- 
dition to  most  of  the  Spanish  territories 
around  the  globe,  from  the  Atlantic  to  Peru 
and  the  Pacific,  up  to  the  Pacific  Northwest, 
to  Nootka  Sound  and  across  the  Pacific  to  the 
Philippines.  The  botanists  on  this  expedition 
were  the  France-born  Luis  Nee  [fl.  1791),  the 


Madrid  Botanical  Garden  19 


Spaniard  Antonio  Pineda  y Ramirez  (1753- 
1 792),  and  the  Bohemian  naturalist  Thaddaus 
(or  Tadeo)  Hanke  (1761-1817),  who  discov- 
ered the  redwood  ( Sequoia  sempervirens ) 
near  Monterey,  California,  in  1791,  during 
the  Expedition.16 

This  expedition,  like  the  others,  ended  in 
desperation  when  the  time  came  to  publish 
the  copious  data  it  had  gathered  in  its  long, 
arduous  travels.  When  it  returned  to  Madrid 
in  1794,  the  Malaspina  Expedition  momen- 
tarily basked  in  praise,  but  Alejandro  Malas- 
pina then  became  involved  in  Court  intrigue 
engineered  by  Charles  IV's  wife,  Queen  Maria 
Luisa  of  Parma,  against  the  King's  most  influ- 
ential advisor  (and  the  Queen's  lover),  the  re- 
actionary Manuel  Godoy  Alvarez  de  Faria 
(1767-1851),  the  so-called  "Prince  of  Peace." 
Malaspina  was  convicted  of  treason  and  ban- 
ished.17 

The  Expedition  was  moderately  success- 
fully, however,  with  respect  to  botany  and  the 
cultivation  of  New  World  plants,  thanks  pri- 
marily to  the  efforts  of  Luis  Nee  and  the  up 
and  coming  Spanish  botanist,  Antonio  Jose 
Cavanilles  (1745-1804),  back  in  Madrid. 

The  Old  Guard  Steps  Down 

By  the  beginning  of  the  Nineteenth  Century 
there  were  clear  indications  that  Casimiro 
Gomez  Ortega  was  in  his  waning  days  of 
power  and  influence  at  the  Royal  Botanic 
Garden.  He  was  about  to  be  superseded  by 
someone  of  remarkable  botanical  ability  and 
productivity.  The  understanding  of  these 
events  lies  in  the  description  and  publication 
of  two  common  garden  plants,  the  dahlia  and 
the  cosmos. 

Dahlia  and  Cosmos  have  already  been 
mentioned  as  genera  that  were  introduced  to 
Europe  as  the  direct  result  of  the  Sesse  and 
Mocino  expedition  to  New  Spain,  which  had 
been  fostered  by  Gomez  Ortega  himself.  In- 
terestingly, however,  the  plants  were  de- 
scribed by  Antonio  Jose  Cavanilles,  perhaps 


the  most  prolific  and  first  truly  world-class 
botanist  of  Spanish  origin. 

Antonio  Jose  Cavanilles  was  born  in 
Valencia  in  1745,  where  he  studiedat  the  Uni- 
versity of  Valencia,  obtaining  a degree  in  phi- 
losophy and  theology.  During  a trip  to  Paris  in 
1 770,  he  became  interested  in  natural  history. 
In  1781,  at  the  age  of  thirty-six,  he  dedicated 
himself  fully  to  botany.  His  rapid  progress 
made  many  take  note  of  the  Spaniard,  includ- 
ing Antoine  de  Jussieu  (1748-1836).  While  in 
Paris,  he  began  work  on  botanical  mono- 
graphs, the  first  being  one  on  the  Linnaean 
Class  Monadelphia.18 

When  he  returned  to  Spain  in  1 790,  he  had 
become  one  of  the  most  celebrated  botanists 
of  the  age.  The  renown  he  had  gained  while  in 
Paris  was  not  easily  overlooked  by  Gomez 
Ortega  and  his  fellow  botanists,  and  soon 
professional  jealousies  erupted.  A full-blown 
battle  was  to  engulf  all  the  Spanish  botanists 
of  the  time.  When  the  smoke  finally  cleared, 
Gomez  Ortega  and  Ruiz  and  Pavon  were  the 
losers. 

Cavanilles  was  appointed  director  of  the 
Garden  in  1801  and  quickly  upgraded  all 
aspects  of  the  institution,  from  its  herbarium 
to  its  conservatories.  Cavanilles  and  his  assis- 
tants produced  an  important  body  of  techni- 
cally superior  literature  that  was  full  of  accu- 
rate descriptions  and  determinations  of  many 
New  World  plants. 

A publication  that  sheds  much  light  on  the 
significant  botanical  descriptions  brought  to 
bear  by  the  industrious  Cavanilles  was  De- 
scripciones  de  las  Plantas  Demonstrandas  en 
las  Lecciones  Publicas  ( Descriptions  of  the 
Plants  Demonstrated  in  the  Public  Lessons 
[of  Botany}).  It  reveals  that  over  one  hundred 
fifty  plants  of  the  New  World  were  being  cul- 
tivated in  the  Garden  in  Madrid,  many  of 
them  described  by  Cavanilles  in  1803.  Sadly, 
this  remarkable  productivity  and  genius  did 
not  last  long. 


20  Madrid  Botanical  Garden 


Madrid  Botanical  Garden  21 


A stand  of  the  coast  redwood  (Sequoia  sempervirens  /D.  Don]  Endlichei)  at  Santa,  Cruz,  California,  photographed  not 
far  from  the  site  where  Thaddaus  Hanke  discovered  the  redwood  in  1791  while  he  was  a member  of  the  Malaspina 
Expedition.  In  1792,  at  Santa  Cruz  itself,  Archibald  Menzies,  who  was  a member  of  England’s  rival  Vancouver 
Expedition  (1791-1795),  collected  the  specimen  from  which  David  Don  described  the  new  species  [as  Taxodium 
sempervirens,)  in  1824.  The  map  on  the  opposite  page  shows  the  landfalls  of  both  expeditions  on  what  is  now  the  Pacific 
Coast  of  the  United  States.  The  photograph,  which  is  from  the  Archives  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum,  was  taken  in  1908 
by  G.  R.  King.  The  map  is  taken  from  Susan  Delano  McKelvey’s  Botanical  Exploration  of  the  Trans-Mississippi  West 
(1955). 


The  Nineteenth  Century:  End  of  an  Era 

Short  was  the  time  the  Real  Jardin  Botanico 
de  Madrid  enjoyed  the  intellectual  vigor  of 
Antonio  Jose  Cavanilles.  Cavanilles's  death 
* in  1804  signalled  the  beginning  of  the  long, 
disastrous  twilight  the  Garden  would  suffer 
through  the  rest  of  the  Nineteenth  Century 
and  the  better  part  of  the  Twentieth.  With 
Napoleon's  invasion  of  Spain  in  1 808,  the  last 
embers  of  the  limelight  in  which  Spanish 


botany  had  so  recently  basked  were  snuffed 
out. 

The  Madrid  Botanic  Garden  appears  to 
have  been  adequately  maintained  and  cared 
for  throughout  the  Nineteenth  Century,  but 
the  intellectual  momentum  of  its  first  fifty 
years  was  lost.  During  the  late  Nineteenth 
Century,  its  formal,  geometric,  and  rational- 
ist Eighteenth  Century  plan  gave  way  to  the 
Romantic  notions  in  fashion  at  the  time.  The 


22  Madrid  Botanical  Garden 


Romantic  curvilinear  "Isabelino"  style  took 
prominence  throughout  the  site.  Apparently, 
the  era  of  rationalist  vision  had  long  since 
withered,  and  what  remained  was  a painful 
sentimentality.  During  that  time  new  green- 
houses were  built  to  house  what  remained  of 
the  exotic  plants  of  days  long  gone,  yet  even 
this  activity  could  not  save  the  Garden  from 
the  tragic  fate  that  awaited  Spanish  society  in 
the  Twentieth  Century. 

The  Twentieth  Century:  Democratic 
Reawakening 

Initially,  the  Twentieth  Century  and  the 
Industrial  Revolution  were  times  of  great 
promise  and  creativity  for  Spain.  By  the 
1930s,  however,  the  political  tensions  that 
were  being  felt  throughout  Europe  and  that 
presaged  the  coming  World  War,  erupted  in 
Spain  as  a bloody  civil  war  in  1936.  With  the 
advent  of  Francisco  Franco  in  the  late  1930s, 
Spain  was  headed,  once  again,  for  a period  of 
creative  sterility. 

The  intellectual  reawakening  of  the  Real 
Jardin  Botanico  de  Madrid  came  gradually,  be- 
ginning in  the  late  1 950s  with  the  publication 
of  scholarly  works  dedicated  to  reevaluating 
the  institution's  early  expeditions.  Neverthe- 
less, the  evidence  (including  Arthur  Steele's 
touching  description  of  a director  clutching  a 
faded  guest  book)  suggests  that  the  Garden 
was  in  a sorry  state  of  disrepair.19  During  the 
late  1960s,  a new  administration  building 
was  constructed  where  Spanish  botanists 
could  once  again  work  in  modern  surround- 
ings. 

The  Garden's  physical  restoration  began  in 

1974,  sparked  by  an  ill-conceived  proposal  to 
make  it  the  site  of  a Goya  Museum.  Thank- 
fully, the  winds  of  democracy  were  stirring  in 
Spain  at  the  time.  With  Franco's  death  in 

1975,  the  stage  was  set  for  a complete  histori- 
cal restoration  of  the  Garden,  one  that  would 
return  it  to  its  formal  grace.  For  seven  years 
during  the  restoration  process  the  Garden 


was  closed  to  the  public.  Finally,  on  Decem- 
ber 2,  1981,  with  the  King  of  Spain  present — 
this  time  as  a constitutional  monarch — the 
Real  Jardin  Botanico  de  Madrid  was  reopened 
to  the  public. 

The  Garden  Today 

Today,  thanks  to  the  sensitive  restoration 
plans  by  Leandro  Silva  Delgado,  one  of 
Spain's  leading  landscape  designers,  the  Gar- 
den is  slowly  regaining  its  grace.  The  lower, 
rectangular  parterres,  or  escuelas,  are  taking 
shape  as  the  boxwood  borders  gradually  fill 
in,  forming  a gentle  green  tapestry  that  appro- 
priately reflects  the  geometry  and  order  of 
Eighteenth  Century  rational  idealism.  The 
center  of  each  parterre  is  accented  by  under- 
stated fountains  that  gently  burble  water, 
reminiscent  of  the  Moorish  garden  tradition 
that  antedates  the  European  discovery  of 
America.  Meanwhile,  on  the  upper  level, 
facing  the  two  hundred-year-old  conserva- 
tory, Nineteenth  Century  Romanticism  has 
been  preserved  in  curvilinear  beds  outlined 
by  Viburnum  tinus.  Lush  trees  and  shrubs 
offer  the  visitor  retreat,  security,  and  mys- 
tery, so  essential  in  a Spanish  garden. 

Under  the  watchful  eyes  of  its  new  direc- 
tor, Santiago  Castroviejo,  the  Garden  has 
begun  publishing  the  Flora  Iberica.  At  the 
same  time  the  Garden  is  encouraging  interna- 
tional cooperation  with  Latin  America  in  the 
painstaking  process  of  reevaluation  and  pub- 
lication of  the  vast  wealth  of  documentation 
and  herbaria  from  the  courageous  Eighteenth 
Century  expeditions  of  discovery. 

Endnotes 

1.  Jose  Quer  y Martinez,  Flora  Espahola,  6 Historia  de 
las  Plantas,  Que  Se  Ciian  en  Espaha.  Madrid: 
Joaquin  Ibarra,  1762-1764.  Four  volumes.  Volume  1 
(1762),  page  363. 

2.  Arthur  Robert  Steele,  Flowers  for  the  King  (Durham, 
North  Carolina:  Duke  University  Press,  1964),  page 
6. 


Madrid  Botanical  Garden  23 


From  1974  until  1981,  while  it  was  being  restored,  the  Madrid  Botanic  Garden  had  to  be  closed  to  the  public.  Plans 
developed  by  Leandro  Silva  Delgado,  one  of  Spain's  leading  landscape  architects,  guided  the  restoration  project.  Shown 
here  is  construction  work  being  done  in  February  1981  on  the  Ruiz  and  Pavon  Pavilion,  just  inside  the  Puerto  del  Rey, 
or  Royal  Gate.  (The  Gate  and  the  Paseo  del  Prado  are  in  the  background.)  Photograph  courtesy  of  J.  Walter  Brain. 


3.  Quer,  Flora  Espahola, Volume  1,  page  60. 

4.  Manuscript  letter,  in  Section  "Secretaria  y Superin- 
tendence de  Hacienda,"  Legajo  951,  Archivo  Gen- 
eral de  Simancas,  Simancas,  Spain. 

5.  Manuscript  letter,  ibid. 

6.  Manuscript  letter,  ibid. 

7.  Steele,  Flowers  for  the  King,  page  31. 

8.  Manuscript  letter,  op.  cit.,  Legajo  951. 

9.  Manuscript  letter,  ibid. 

10.  Steele,  Flowers  for  the  King,  page  37. 


11.  Manuscript  letter  in  Section  "Carlos  III,"  Legajo 
38  75,  Archivo  del  Palacio  Real,  Madrid. 

12.  Manuscript,  Division  I,  Legajo  3,  6,  7,  Archivos,  Real 
Jardin  Botanico  de  Madrid. 

13.  Ibid. 

14.  Madrid:  Ibarra.  Call  Number  255/24,  Archivos  Gen- 
eral de  las  Indias,  Seville,  Spain. 

15.  Frontispiece  to  Volume  1 of  Alexander  von  Hum- 
boldt and  Aime  Bonpland,  Voyage  de  Humboldt  et 
Bonpland.  Sixieme  Partie,  Botanique.  Plantes  Equi- 
noxiales.  . . . 2 volumes.  Paris:  Schoell,  1808,  1809. 


24  Madrid  Botanical  Garden 


I am  grateful  to  Santiago  Diaz  Piedralita  for  calling 
my  attention  to  this  fact. 

16.  Willis  Linn  Jepson,  in  his  The  Silva  of  California 
(Berkeley,  1910),  says  (page  138)  that  "The  Redwood 
was  first  collected  near  Monterey  by  Thaddeus 
Haenke  of  the  Malaspina  Expedition  in  1791,  who 
may  be  said  to  be  its  botanical  discoverer.  The  second 
collector  was  Archibald  Menzies  of  the  Vancouver 
Expedition  [which  touched  Monterey  first  in  1792). . 
. . No  exact  locality  has  ever  been  given  for  the 
Menzies  collection,  but  while  examining  Menzies' 
original  specimen  at  the  British  Natural  History 
Museum  in  London  I [ i.e .,  Jepson]  turned  over  the 
sheet  and  discovered  written  on  the  back  'Santa 
Cruz,  Menzies.'" 

17.  Iris  H.  W.  Engstrand,  Spanish  Scientists  in  the  New 
World  (Seattle,  1981),  page  107. 

18.  Miguel  Colmeiro,  La  Botdnica  y los  Botanicos 
(Madrid,  1858),  pages  173-174. 

19.  Steele,  Flowers  for  the  King,  page  vii. 


Select  Bibliography 

Carmen  Anon,  Santiago  Castroviejo,  and  Antonio 
Fernandez  Alba.  Real  Jardin  Botanico  de 
Madrid,  Pabellon  de  Inverndculos  (Noticias 
de  una  Restitucion  Historical . Madrid:  Con- 
sejo  Superior  de  Investigaciones  Cientificas, 
1983.  118  pages. 

Marquesa  de  Casa  Valdes,  fardines  de  Espana.  Madrid: 
Aguilar,  1973.  xix  + 299  pages. 

Jose  de  Castro  Arines  and  Fernando  Huici.  Leandro  Silva 
Delgado:  En  Torno  a un  Jardin  y a un  Paisaje: 
Acuarelas,  Fotografias  y Collages.  Madrid: 
Galena  Ynguanzo,  1981.  (Pamphlet.) 

Antonio  Jose  Cavanilles.  Descripcion  de  las  Plantas, 
Que  A.  f.  Cavanilles  Demostro  en  las 
Lecciones  Publicas  del  Aho  1801-[1802],  Pre- 
cedida  de  los  Ptincipios  Elementales  de  la 
Botdnica.  Madrid:  Imprenta  Real,  1802. 
cxxxvi  + 625  pages. 

Miguel  Colmeiro  y Penido.  Bosquejo  Historico  Esta- 
distico  del  fardin  Botanico  de  Madrid.  Anales 
de  la  Sociedad  Espanola  de  Historia  Natural, 
Volume  4.  Madrid:  T.  Fortanet,  1875.  iv  + 105 
pages  + plates. 

. La  Botdnica  y los  Botanicos  de  la  Peninsula 

Hispano-Lusitana.  Madrid:  Rivadeneyra, 
1858.  x + 216  pages. 


Iris  H.  W.  Engstrand.  Spanish  Scientists  in  the  New 
World:  The  Eighteenth-Century  Expeditions. 
Seattle  and  London:  University  of  Washington 
Press,  1981.  xiv  + 220  pages. 

Casimiro  Gomez  de  Ortega.  Continuacion  de  la  Flora 
Espanola,  6 Historia  de  las  Plantas,  Que  Se 
Crian  en  Espana.  Two  volumes.  Madrid: 
Ibarra,  1784.  xxxii  + 538  + 667  pages  + 34 
plates. 

. Instruccion  sobre  el  Modo  Mas  Seguro  y 

Economico  de  Transportar  Plantas  Vivas  por 
Mar  y por  Tierra  a los  Paises  Mas  Distantes. 
Madrid:  Ibarra,  1 779.  70  pages. 

Jose  Quer  y Martinez.  Flora  Espanola,  6 Historia  de  las 
Plantas,  Que  Se  Crian  en  Espana.  Four  vo- 
lumes. Madrid:  Ibarra,  1762-1764. 402  pages  + 
1 1 plates;  303  pages  + 33  plates;  436  pages  + 79 
plates;  and  471  pages  + 66  plates. 

Harold  William  Rickett,  translator  and  collator.  The 
Royal  Botanical  Expedition  to  New  Spain 
1788-1820  As  Described  in  Documents  in  the 
Archivo  General  de  la  Nacion  [Mexico]. 
Chronica  Botanica,  Volume  11,  Number  1, 
pages  1 to  86  ( 1947). 

Leandro  Silva  Delgado.  The  restoration  of  the  Royal 
Botanical  Garden,  Madrid.  A Future  for  Our 
Past  [Council  of  Europe,  Strasbourg],  Number 
29,  pages  6 and  7 ( 1986). 

Arthur  Robert  Steele.  Flowers  for  the  King:  The  Expedi- 
tion of  Ruiz  and  Pavon  and  the  Flora  of  Peru. 
Durham:  Duke  University  Press,  1964.  xv  + 
378  pages. 

Acknowledgment 

I thank  the  staff  and  director  of  the  Real  Jardin  Botanico 

de  Madrid  for  the  gracious  assistance  they  gave  to  me 

throughout  the  research  phase  of  this  project. 


Ricardo  R.  Austrich  lives  in  Boston.  He  obtained  his 
bachelor’s  degree  in  ornamental  horticulture  from 
Cornell  University  in  1984.  Then,  receiving  a Dreer 
Award  Fellowship,  he  spent  a year  in  Spain  studying 
Eighteenth  and  Nineteenth  Century  archival  materials 
dealing  with  the  history  of  Spanish  botany  and  horticul- 
ture. Currently,  he  is  employed  as  a consultant  by  an 
architecture  firm  in  the  Boston  area. 


inni 


inn 


N55 


LU 


Plaza 

de 

Murillo 


( -kudin 


REAL  JARDIN  BOTANICO 


(Gloria*  dc  k»  Ties) 

1 » ( .vuyidn  de  Vapnii 


CS.LC. 

Plan  de  la  Flo 


am  aka  dd  Jafdte,  tradic 
Plan  de  la  Floe,  pot  an 


F3t  Tin  (Gkrin  <k  la  Tin) 


Informacidn  general 

PabdkJo  Villanueva 
Emparrado 


This  page.  Above:  Sign  showing  the  layout  of  the  Romantic  " Isabelino " section  of  the  Garden.  Below:  Sign  for  the 
parterre  with  plants  in  the  Caryophyllidae  and  Dilleniidse.  Opposite  page.  A Nineteenth  Century  invemaculo  (conser- 
vatory, or  greenhouse).  Page  25.  Top:  Watercolor  of  the  Royal  Gate,  by  Leandro  Silva  Delgado.  Bottom:  Plan  of  the 
Garden  at  the  Murillo  Gate.  Note  the  “Isabelino"  portion  of  the  Garden  at  the  top.  Photographs  by  Ricardo  R.  Austrich. 


REAL  JARDIN  BOTANICO 


JL 

E3  CARYOPHYLLIDAE  Y 
DILLENIIDAE  P.P. 


tin  oia  cscucla  sc  han  rcunicio  represent  antes  del  superorden  Caryophyllidae,  que  co 
dc  cuatro  drdcncs  y 14  familiaa,  dc  disiribucibn  tropical,  tcmplada  o cosmopoltta,  y de 
seta  pranmn  brdcncs  del  aupemrtlcn  Dtilcniidac,  que  conata  dc  docc  brdcncs  y t 
70  familiaa,  cn  au  mayorb  tmptealev,  algunas  dc  distribucibn  tctnptada  o mediterra 
y algunaa  cosmopolitaa. 

1:1  primer  aupcntrdcn,  que  ocupa  k»  cuatro  cuadroa  intcnorcs,  conata  tic  pi  am  as  cr 
mayorfo  hcrhiccas,  con  Sofas  simples,  f recuent entente  camosaa  y a voces  transform^ 
cn  captna*.  Sua  Bores  son  rcgularc*  y liiscxuaics.  I I ntimero  dc  scpalos,  pctalos  y cat 
bres  varb  dcstlc  numerwot  cn  lasfamiliasmas  primittvathaata  4-5  cn  las  mas  cvolucW 
«bs;  cl  tnario  suele  scr  stipe ro..  | 

Kn  calc  superorden  sc  encuadran  In  numerous  capcctcs  de  cactos,  muchas  plant  as  os 
mentalcs  (clavclcs,  I vwgan  villas),  algunaa  comestibles  (aedgas.  rcmolachas),  y buen  nti 
n»  dc  malas  hicrfias.  y plant  as  dc  terrenos  saltnos. 

I -as  familiaa  del  aegundo  auperorden  representadas  cn  los  cuadros  extenores,  csfin  t 
gratis*  por  plant  as  cn  au  mayorb  IcAosas,  con  hops  simples,  habitualmcntc  altcmas,  y 
muchoa  caaos  doiatbs  dc  csiipulas.  lat  Bores  auclcn  ser  regubre*  y biacxualcs.  Tic 
frccucntcmcntc  cinco  pctalos  o un  mtihiplo  dc  cat  a cifra,  numcroaos  estambrea  y ov 


l-n  calc  grupo  hay  cspcocs  omamcntalcs  hcrbiccas  (pconfas,  malvaa,  violet  as,  hegon 
y arlibrcaa  (tik»a,  olmos.  morcras).  plantaa  corneal  il»lcs  (me lories,  vimlias.  papayas),  y 
.irlmsios  •Inmiiunus  ui  l«»s  nulorr.iles  luiur.iles  mcdtfcrr.incti*  (j.ir.is.  |.igu.tr/"*)- 


Informacion  general 

Pabellon  Villanueva  - 

Emparrado  - 

Itinerario  aconsejado 


»» 


Above:  Fountain  in  front  of  the  Pabellon  Villanueva,  which  is  used  for  public  exhibitions,  and  an  attached  Eighteenth 
Century  invemaculo  (conservatory,  or  greenhouse).  Photograph  by  J.  Walter  Brain.  Below:  View  of  a parterre,  or  escuela 
botanica.  Note  the  boxwood  edging  around  the  beds  and  the  fountain.  Photograph  by  Ricardo  R.  Austrich. 


Above:  Close-up  view  of  a fountain.  Below:  One  of  the  Eighteenth  Century  invemaculos  (greenhouses)  at  the  Pabellon 
Villanueva.  The  bust  on  the  pedestal  in  the  fountain  is  of  Linnaeus.  Both  photographs  were  taken  by  Ricardo  R.  Austrich. 


The  "Tapada  da  Ajuda /'  Portugal's  First  Botanical 
Garden 


Antonio  de  Almuda  Monteiro 
Jules  Janick 

The  Jardim  Botanico  da  Ajuda,  a small,  "deeply  Portuguese"  botanical  garden 
in  Lisbon,  has  had  a distinguished  history  since  it  was  established  over  two 
centuries  ago,  in  the  wake  of  the  great  earthquake  of  1755 


At  9:40  on  the  morning  of  Saturday,  Novem- 
ber 1,  1 755,  as  the  faithful  attended  church  to 
commemorate  All  Saints's  Day,  a violent 
earthquake  swept  Portugal's  picturesque 
capital,  Lisbon.  In  six  terrifying  minutes 
thirty  thousand  people  were  either  killed 
instantly  or  fatally  injured.  Simultaneously,  a 
strong  tidal  wave  pushed  the  Tagus  River  (Rio 
Tejo)  over  its  banks,  inundating  the  lower 
quarter  of  the  city.  Lisbon  was  almost  com- 
pletely destroyed,  and  what  remained  was 
consumed  by  an  enormous  conflagration  that 
burned  for  three  days.  The  gorgeous  palaces 
full  of  paintings  and  art  objects  acquired  by 
merchants  and  nobles  from  the  Orient  and 
Europe  were  reduced  to  smoldering  embers. 

The  earthquake  was  to  be  the  most  signifi- 
cant event  in  Portuguese  history  since  Vasco 
da  Gama's  discovery  of  the  maritime  route  to 
India  in  1500.  The  disaster  was  used  by  the 
formidable  and  controversial  prime  minister, 
Sebastiao  Jose  de  Carvalho  e Mello — 


Monument  to  the  Marques  de  Pombal  in  the  center  of 
Lisbon.  The  Marques,  escorting  a lion,  surveys  the  city 
he  rebuilt  after  the  disastrous  earthquake  of  1755.  A. 
Bermudas  and  C.  Couto,  architects,  and  F.  Santos, 
sculptor,  designed  the  monument,  which  was  com- 
pleted in  1934. 


Marques  de  Pombal  (1699-1782) — as  just  the 
excuse  he  needed  to  impose  his  authority  and 
to  remold  the  country  to  the  new  economic 
and  cultural  concepts  he  had  observed  during 
his  travels  as  ambassador  to  London  and 
Vienna.  Pombal  personally  directed  the  re- 
building with  an  iron  hand,  and  a reborn 
Lisbon  arose  from  the  ashes.  Long,  straight 
avenues,  flanked  by  new  buildings  all  in  the 
same  style,  replaced  narrow  Mediaeval  alleys. 

As  a part  of  Lisbon's  renewal,  the  omnipo- 
tent Pombal  charged  Domingos  (Domenico) 
Vandelli  (1735-1816),  professor  of  botany  in 
the  University  of  Coimbra,  with  building  a 
garden.  The  location  was  to  be  a choice  piece 
of  property  just  purchased  by  King  Jose  I 
(1714-1777),  close  to  the  new  wooden  palace 
in  Ajuda,  a suburb  of  Lisbon,  where  the  royal 
family  had  camped  out  before  a more  appro- 
priate home  could  be  constructed.  In  1768, 
Vandelli  called  on  the  Italian  landscape  archi- 
tect, Julio  Mattiazzi,  from  the  famed  botani- 
cal garden  at  Padua,  to  draw  up  plans  for  what 
was  to  become  the  first  botanical  garden  in 
Portugal.  But  its  placement,  near  the  palace, 
suggests  that  behind  the  scientific  aim  was  a 
royal  wish  that  the  garden  serve  for  Court  rec- 
reation and  the  education  of  the  Crown 
Prince. 


32  Lisbon’s  Garden  of  Ajuda 


General  view  of  the  Ajuda  quarter  of  Lisbon,  showing  the  wooden  palace  where  King  Jose  1 resided  after  the  earthquake 
of  November  1, 1 755.  On  the  bottom  of  the  hill  is  "Quinta  de  Don  Lazaro, " one  of  the  numerous  gardens  in  Lisbon.  From 
the  Lisbon  City  Museum. 


The  great  European  botanical  gardens  of 
Pisa,  Padua,  Leipzig,  and  Leiden  had  been 
established  more  than  two  centuries  earlier. 
Portugal's  late  entry  was  due,  not  to  any  lack 
of  interest  in  plants,  native  or  exotic,  among 
its  people,  but  to  the  different  way  in  which 
they  appreciated  plants:  instead  of  the  tradi- 
tional gardens  of  France  or  Italy,  the  Portu- 
guese preferred  tapadas,  or  "enclosures." 
These  were  relatively  large,  green  areas,  en- 
circled by  walls,  situated  near  towns  and  used 
for  recreation  by  the  artistocracy.  They  ex- 
isted mostly  in  the  southern  half  of  Portugal, 
where  the  climate  is  hotter  and  drier  than  it  is 
in  the  northern  half.  Here  it  was  possible  to 
preserve  native  woodlands  and  to  maintain 


exotic  species  in  small  gardens  with  irriga- 
tion. The  tapadas  were  protected  by  walls 
from  increasing  pressure  for  agricultural  land 
and  firewood  and  became  oases  in  a degraded 
landscape.  In  Lisbon,  two  of  them,  Tapada  das 
Necessidades  and  Tapada  da  Ajuda,  can  still 
be  visited  today.  As  a result  of  urban  sprawl, 
however,  they  are  no  longer  on  the  outskirts 
but  almost  at  the  center  of  the  city. 

Mattiazzi's  Design  for  Ajuda 
Mattiazzi  planned  the  Garden  of  Ajuda  in  the 
Italianate  style.  Situated  on  a hillside  open  to 
the  south,  it  is  designed  in  two  levels  facing 
the  Tagus  River  in  such  a way  that  both  the 
view  and  the  placement  make  an  aesthetic 


Lisbon’s  Garden  of  Ajuda  33 


The  original  plan  of  the  Royal  Garden  of  Ajuda.  From  the  Archives  of  the  Ministry  of  Pubhc  Works,  Lisbon. 


statement.  In  the  two  landings,  the  collec- 
tions were  planted  in  plots  symmetrically 
sited  in  a stately  design.  Two  buildings  were 
built,  one,  in  the  upper  part,  for  the  botanical 
school  and  another,  in  the  lower  end,  as  a kind 
of  natural  history  museum. 

Two  wooden  glasshouses,  or  orangeries, 
were  constructed  in  the  upper  landing  to 
accommodate  a broad  collection  of  living 
plants.  They  were  replaced  during  the  Nine- 
teenth Century  by  four  elegant  cast-iron 
greenhouses  in  the  Romantic  style  and  are 
still  the  most  important  motif  in  the  upper 
landing.  One  of  the  greenhouses,  half  embed- 
ded in  the  hillside  to  reduce  heat  loss  and  to 
increase  the  efficiency  of  the  heating  system, 
retains  the  royal  insignia  engraved  on  the 
glass  of  the  entrance  door.  Inside  the  glass- 


houses are  several  small,  beautiful  marble 
pools  used  to  increase  humidity  and  to  serve 
as  reservoirs  of  water  for  irrigation. 

Aquatic  plants  in  the  open  were  not  ig- 
nored and  are  found  in  six  ponds  formed  from 
cut  stone.  One  of  them,  the  only  example  of 
late  Portuguese  baroque  style  in  the  Garden, 
is  the  architecture  center  of  the  lower  land- 
ing. It  has  several  water  sprays  and  is  deco- 
rated with  statues  of  aquatic  animals — sea- 
horses, dolphins,  snakes,  and  ducks — in  a 
fantastic  mix  as  counterpoint  to  the  curvilin- 
eal  form  of  the  pond. 

The  total  design  effect  of  the  Garden  is  one 
of  simplicity,  in  marked  contrast  to  the  splen- 
dor of  the  great  French  or  Italian  gardens.  The 
glory  of  the  Garden  of  Ajuda  is  achieved  by 
the  magnificent  view  facing  south.  The  deco- 


34  Lisbon’s  Garden  of  Ajuda 


rative  elements  are  beautifully  set  off  by  the 
bright  Iberian  sun  and  the  cloudless  sky. 
Stairs,  balustrades,  and  ponds  in  white  cut 
stone,  much  in  the  Portuguese  style,  emerge 
from  the  green  surfaces  of  the  formal  box- 
wood hedges.  Different  flowers  with  bright 
colors  are  displayed,  so  that  one  species  is  in 


bloom  the  year  round  contrast  with  dark 
shadows,  a pleasant  refuge  from  the  hot 
summer  sunlight. 

Neoclassic  elements  predominate  as  in  all 
the  rebuilt  parts  of  Lisbon  and,  despite  the 
Italianate  influence,  the  Garden  is  deeply 
Portuguese.  There  is  no  main  axis  with  large 


An  old  drawing  of  the  Garden  of  Ajuda,  by  Barbosa  Lima.  From  Archivo  Pittoresto,  Volume  5 (1962). 


Lisbon’s  Garden  of  Ajuda  35 


open  lanes,  nor  is  the  Garden  appended  to  the 
front  of  an  important  building  in  the  French 
style.  Rather,  it  closes  in  on  itself,  with  the 
exception  of  the  broad  opening  to  the  river. 
The  entrance,  very  important  in  some  gar- 
dens, is  merely  a small  gate  on  the  east  side. 
The  wall  enclosing  the  Garden  maintains  the 
tradition  of  the  tapada. 

Plant  collecting  was  a much  appreciated 
hobby  of  an  aristocracy  that  took  great  pride 
in  plant  rarities  on  their  private  grounds.  The 
new  garden  in  Ajuda  would  not  be  so  impor- 
tant had  it  become  just  one  more  place  to 
display  specimens.  But  the  manner  of  presen- 
tation, following  the  new  Linnaean  system  of 
plant  classification,  was  an  important  im- 


provement that  distinguished  it  from  the 
status  quo.  The  Garden  had  areas  specifically 
set  aside  for  systematic  arrangements  based 
on  the  new  taxonomy,  and  a small  area  for 
trials.  It  was  also  the  first  place  in  Portugal 
where  new  plants  were  presented,  not  as 
curiosities,  but  as  possible  new  agricultural 
or  medicinal  crops. 

A Magnet  for  Plants  and  for  People 

The  Garden  of  Ajuda  was  like  a magnet  for 
plants  and  people.  It  attracted  new  plant  col- 
lections from  overseas  and  botanists  and 
horticulturists,  who  came  from  throughout 
Europe  to  study  firsthand  specimens  from 
Africa,  Asia,  and  the  New  World.  The  Garden 


A view  of  the  Garden  from  the  top  of  the  main  staircase.  The  formal  boxwood  hedges  contain  beds  of  roses,  euphorbia, 
and  conium.  In  the  background,  a suspension  bridge  over  the  Tagus  River  connects  north  and  south  Portugal. 
Photograph  by  Antonio  de  Almuda  Monteiro. 


36  Lisbon’s  Garden  of  Ajuda 


A small  greenhouse  appended  to  a structure  known  as  the  " Old  Palace."  Dating  to  the  Nineteenth  Century,  it  now 
contains  the  orchid  and  bromeliad  collection.  Photograph  by  Antonio  de  Almuda  Monteiro. 


became  a center  of  attraction  in  Portugal.  In 
1836,  for  example,  one  thousand  ninety  indi- 
viduals signed  the  visitor's  register! 

In  1 798,  a German  voyager  by  the  name  of 
Johann  Heinrich  Friedrich  Link  ( 1767-185 1 ), 
coauthor  of  Flore  Portugaise,  wrote: 

This  garden  is  charmingly  situated.  It  offers  a nice 
view  over  the  river  and  the  sea  like  the  garden  in 
Paris  which  dominates  part  of  the  town.  It  is  not 
very  large  and  the  orangeries  are  small,  but  it  has 
ponds  and  aquatic  plants.  It  is  kept  very  tidy  and 
is  very  interesting  for  botanists  to  preserve  their 
nice  discoveries  because  everything  received  is 
planted  and  is  left  for  nature  to  look  after.  It 
happens  that  many  plants  from  Brazil  and  other 
parts  are  sent  to  the  garden.  Now  I can  find  species 
growing  here  to  be  sent  back  to  Brazil  for  commer- 
cial planting. 


In  1868,  David  Moore  (1807-1879),  Super- 
intendent, or  Curator,  of  Glasnevin,  the 
Royal  Society  of  Dublin's  botanic  garden, 
wrote: 

Part  of  the  garden  has  the  plants  classified  accord- 
ing to  the  Linnaean  system  but  in  the  other  part  we 
had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  written  information 
saying  that  the  "Ordines  Naturales  Systematis 
Lindley"  were  being  followed.  The  best  plants 
were  those  growing  in  the  open  air  and  among 
theem  specially  Araucaria  excelsa,  Ficus 
elastica,  Lagerstraemia  indica,  Pittosporum 
tobira  and  Pittosporum  undulatum,  about  20  feet 
high  and  perfectly  covered  with  seeds. 

Unfortunately,  the  Portuguese  govern- 
ment did  not  often  recognize  the  scientific 


Lisbon’s  Garden  of  Ajuda  37 


A pond  with  waterlilies  and  Nolia  longifolia  in  bloom. 
Photograph  by  Antonio  de  Almuda  Monteiro. 

value  of  the  Garden,  and  support  was  mar- 
ginal during  most  of  the  Nineteenth  Century. 
Some  of  its  directors — Felix  da  Silva  de  Avel- 
lar  Brotero  (1744-1828),  Friedrich  Martin 
Josef  Welwitsch  (1806-1872),  and  Joao  de 
Andrade  Corvo  (1824-1890) — often  com- 
plained that  they  lacked  the  money  necessary 
to  maintain  the  Garden  in  good  condition. 

Brotero,  the  most  distinguished  Portu- 
guese botanist  of  the  Eighteenth  and  Nine- 
teenth Centuries,  travelled  extensively  in 
France.  He  received  a doctorate  from  Reims 
University.  His  important  botanical  writings 
include  the  General  Catalogue  of  All  Plants 
in  the  Royal  Botanical  Garden  of  Ajuda. 
Welwitsch  was  an  Austrian  botanist  who 
worked  in  Ajuda  for  several  years.  Later  he 
travelled  along  the  southern  coast  of  Africa  on 


expeditions  sponsored  by  the  Portuguese 
government,  collecting  an  enormous  number 
of  insects  and  plants  to  initiate  the  study  of 
the  flora  of  that  region. 

The  Garden's  Setting 

The  Garden,  4.4  hectares  in  area,  is  situated  in 
the  heart  of  Ajuda,  one  of  the  traditional  resi- 
dential quarters,  just  above  the  Palace  of 
Belem,  which  is  now  the  official  residence  of 
the  President  of  the  Republic.  Close  to  the 
Garden  is  the  imposing  but  unfinished  Palace 
of  Ajuda,  in  Classical  style.  From  the  upper 
landing  of  the  Garden  the  visitor  has  a beau- 
tiful vista  framed  by  trees  on  two  sides  and  by 
red  roofs  below.  Far  to  the  left  the  magnificent 
suspension  bridge  (originally  the  Salazar 
Bridge,  renamed  the  Twenty-fifth  of  April 
Bridge  after  the  1974  revolution)  can  be  seen 
connecting  the  two  banks  of  the  Tagus.  Fol- 
lowing the  river  towards  the  seaside  resorts  of 
Estoril  and  Cascais  is  the  Belem  Tower.  This 
old  fortress,  built  during  the  Sixteenth  Cen- 
tury in  Manuelino  style,  stands  on  the  river- 
bank  as  a symbol  of  the  Portuguese  discover- 
ies. Not  far  from  the  tower  is  the  enormous 
Monastery  of  Jeronimos.  Its  Manuelino  exte- 
rior is  made  of  white  stone,  cut  like  lace  and 
decorated  with  naval  motifs  to  celebrate  the 
discovery  of  the  maritime  route  to  India.  The 
round  dome  of  the  Memorial  Church  can  be 
seen  from  the  Garden.  It  was  built  by  the  Mar- 
ques of  Pombal  to  remind  the  populace  of  the 
unsuccessful  assassination  attempt  of  the 
King,  an  event  exploited  by  Pombal  to  con- 
solidate his  power.  A garden,  surrounded  by 
these  stately  monuments,  cannot  help  but 
impress  the  visitor  with  the  past  glories  of 
Portugal. 

The  Garden  of  Ajuda  Today 

During  the  Vandelli  era,  the  Garden  of  Ajuda 
owned  a large  collection  of  plants,  reportedly 
about  five  thousand  species.  Most  came  from 
incursions  in  Africa  and  Brazil,  as  a part  of 


38  Lisbon’s  Garden  of  Ajuda 


national  priority  to  bring  new  species  to  Por- 
tugal. They  were  kept  not  only  for  curiosity's 
sake,  but  for  possible  use  as  food  and  medici- 
nal plants.  The  Portuguese  and  Spanish  had 
key  roles  in  the  introduction  of  new  crops  to 
Europe,  including  maize,  the  tomato,  the 
capsicum  pepper,  the  orange,  and  the  pine- 
apple. Today,  some  five  hundred  taxa  are 
represented  in  the  Garden. 

Among  the  noteworthy  trees  that  survived 
a violent  cyclone  in  1943  are  the  enormous 
Dracaena  draco,  Schotia  afra,  Ficus  macro- 
phylla,  Ficus  benjamina,  Nolia  longifolia 
(which  is  lovely  in  bloom),  and  the  strange 
Sophora  japonica  with  its  natural  bending 
branches.  Strelitzia  regime  and  Asparagus 
plumosa  perform  splendidly  during  winter 
without  heating  because  of  the  mild  mari- 
time climate. 

Since  1918,  the  Garden  of  Ajuda  has  been 
associated  with  the  Instituto  Superior  de 
Agronomia  (College  of  Agriculture),  one  of 


the  colleges  of  the  Technical  University  of 
Lisbon.  Its  botanical  importance  decreased 
after  new  gardens  connected  with  the  Escola 
Politecnica  (Polytechnic  School)  of  Lisbon 
were  created. 

Though  no  longer  the  famous  botanical 
center  it  was  a century  and  a half  ago,  the 
Garden  nonetheless  remains  a monument,  a 
calm  and  pleasant  setting  that  the  traveller  is 
obliged  to  visit.  It  has  a seed  exchange  and  be- 
longs to  the  International  Association  of 
Botanical  Gardens,  European-Mediterranean 
Division.  Research  and  education  in  orna- 
mental horticulture  and  botany  continue. 

Botanists,  horticulturists,  and  gardeners 
from  all  countries  are  cordially  invited  to 
visit. 


Antonio  de  Almuda  Monteiro  is  Director  of  the  Jardim 
Botanico  da  Ajuda.  Jules  Janick  is  Professor  of  Horticul- 
ture at  Purdue  University. 


BOOKS 


Flowering  Trees  and  Shrubs:  The  Botanical 
Paintings  of  Esther  Heins,  by  Judith  Leet. 
New  York:  Harry  N.  Abrams,  Inc.,  1987. 
148  pages.  $29.95. 


JOHN  BARSTOW 
KATE  GRIDLEY 

Anyone  who  has  bothered  to  look  closely  at 
plants  will  marvel  at  Esther  Heins's  extraor- 
dinary paintings,  and  anyone  who  bothers  to 
look  closely  at  this  book  will  marvel  all  the 
more.  Familiarity  with  Flowering  Trees  and 
Shrubs — a collection  of  sixty-nine  watercolor 
studies  painted  over  thirteen  years — breeds 
even  greater  admiration  for  Heins's  skill,  her 
keen  powers  of  observation,  and  her  remark- 
able fidelity  to  Nature's  every  color,  texture, 
pattern,  form,  and  blemish. 

Flowering  Trees  and  Shrubs  belongs  to  a 
rich  tradition  of  botanical  illustration,  but 
Heins  surpasses  her  predecessors  and  con- 
temporaries because  she  scrupulously  avoids 
stylizing  her  subject.  The  classic  hand-col- 
ored "florals"  of  the  last  century  tend  to  turn 
plants  into  clinical  specimens:  stems  and 
leaves  are  unnaturally  stiff  and  thick,  as  if 
preserved  in  solution.  They  served  a scientific 
purpose,  but  they  denied  Nature's  ephemeral 
aspect.  Yet  contemporary  botanical  illustra- 
tors and  artists  take  their  own  liberties,  accu- 
rately rendering  every  pistil,  stamen,  and 
petal,  but  bending  a plant's  character  to  their 
own  aesthetic.  The  genius  of  Heins's  work  is 
that  it  takes  all  its  cues  from  Nature  and  is 
still  artful.  The  joining  of  such  artistic  ability 


with  a resolve  to  remain  faithful  to  the  sub- 
ject is  indeed  rare;  artists  seldom  decline  the 
chance  to  interpret  reality. 

Flowering  Trees  and  Shrubs  is  organized 
and  written  for  the  enthusiast,  not  the  spe- 
cialist. It  follows  the  natural  order  of  the 
seasons  (a  chapter  for  each  month),  not  the 
taxonomic  order.  It  is  not  a selection  of  the 
best  or  choicest  plants  for  the  temperate  land- 
scape, nor  is  it  in  any  sense  comprehensive. 
Its  unifying  thread  is  Esther  Heins.  For  many 
the  book  will  have  this  additional  value:  it  is 
a guide  to  the  flowering  of  the  Arnold  Arbore- 
tum, for  nearly  every  twig  and  bough  depicted 
came  from  cuttings  in  its  collection. 

A concise  and  lively  essay  by  Judith  Leet 
accompanies  each  full-page  color  plate.  This 
is  not  an  illustrated  work  in  which  artist  and 
writer  vie  for  center  stage  (Leet,  a poet,  is 
Heins's  daughter),  nor  are  the  essays  perfunc- 
tory, invented  merely  to  fill  space  with  type. 
Instead,  Leet  has  unabashedly  tailored  her 
words  to  the  plates,  describing  the  significant 
botanical  features  of  each  plant  not  in 
abstract  terms,  but  in  reference  to  the  work  at 
hand. 

To  this  commentary  Leet  also  brings  fasci- 
nating and  informative  horticultural  history 
and  lore — when  and  where  exotics  were  dis- 
covered by  Western  botanists,  how  and  why 
they  were  brought  to  North  America.  Now 
and  again  she  offers  advice  on  how  to  use  the 
plants  in  the  garden,  or  refers  to  other  plates, 
making  useful  associations  between  plants. 
She  was  ably  assisted  by  the  Arnold  Arbo- 
retum's assistant  plant  propagator  Peter  Del 
Tredici,  who  was  text  consultant  for  the 
book.  The  result  is  nearly  as  noteworthy  as 


40  Books 


the  paintings  themselves,  for  the  text — 
unusual  in  books  of  the  type — contributes  to 
our  appreciation  of  Heins's  work. 

An  unexpected  aid  to  understanding 
Heins's  work  is  "A  Word  from  the  Artist," 
tucked  at  the  end  of  the  book.  Here  Heins 
describes  much  of  the  inspiration  for  her 
work;  her  training  ("I  studied  anatomy,  per- 
spective, color  harmony,  design,  oil  painting, 
drawing  from  the  cast,  drawing  from  the 
model,  sculpture,  crafts.  . .");  the  materials 
she  prefers,-  and  her  work  habits  ("I  can  work 
with  pencil  under  artificial  light,  but  I work 
with  colors  only  in  natural  light,  preferably 
morning  light.").  She  forthrightly  disclaims 
scientific  training:  "When  someone  said  to 
me,  'You  must  know  botany,'  I replied,  'No,  I 
measure,  I count,  I look.'"  And  she  reveals  the 
naturalist's  reverence  for  her  subject:  "A  tree 
has  so  many,  many  leaves  yet  no  two  of  them 
are  alike.  To  me  that  is  a wondrous  thing." 

Equally  wondrous  is  Heins's  ability  to 
depict  the  subtle  differences  between  the  big, 
dark-green  leaves  of  the  ubiquitous  Norway 
maple,  the  barely  discernible  translucence  of 
the  shadblow's  delicate  foliage,  or  the  gem- 
like quality  of  the  porcelain  berry's  azure 
fruit.  When  Heins  paints  the  showy  red  blos- 
som of  a tree  peony  she  also  makes  us  see  the 
fineness  of  the  plant's  foliage,  the  tender 
woodiness  of  last  year's  growth,  even  the 
dusting  of  golden  pollen  on  a scarlet  petal. 

Heins  is  uncannily  sensitive  to  plant  mor- 
phology, though  her  portraits  are  of  small 
cuttings,  usually  several  leaves  and  flowers  or 
berries.  You  can  see  in  these  sprigs  and  shoots 
the  habit  of  the  entire  plant.  The  first  plate — 
of  American  pussy  willow  cuttings  in  three 
stages  of  catkin  development — unmistaka- 
bly says:  vigorous,  upright,  twiggy  shrub.  The 
bough  of  the  weeping  cherry  ( Prunus  subhii- 
tella  'Pendula')  falls  across  the  page  from 
upper  left  to  lower  right,  and  we  can  imagine 


the  supple  grace  of  the  tree.  Likewise  the 
arching  line  of  the  Japanese  hazelnut  bough 
(Corylus  sieboldiana),  which  is  caught  with 
its  leaves  in  tight  bud  and  its  yellow-green 
catkins  drooping.  Heins's  method  is  simple: 
she  lets  the  cuttings  set  their  own  lines.  "I 
draw  my  pencil  lightly  against  the  branch  to 
indicate  the  sweep  of  the  branch,  how  it 
divides,  where  the  stems  attach.  . . ." 

Is  it  fair  to  compare  any  book  of  reproduc- 
tions to  the  original  paintings?  Some  would 
argue  no.  But  we  think  it's  important  to  be 
aware  that  when  colors  do  not  ring  true  the 
fault  lies  with  modern  printing,  not  with  the 
artist's  eye  or  the  time-tested  pigments  of  her 
palette.  We  fault  the  publisher  for  not  exact- 
ing the  highest  standards  of  color  printing. 
While  the  job  is  generally  pleasing,  certain  of 
Heins's  most  painterly  effects  (as  in  her  por- 
trait of  the  smoke  tree's  faded  bloom  or  the 
ginkgo's  fall  foliage)  are  unacceptably  dimin- 
ished; the  color  is  anemic. 

Responsibility  for  the  book's  one  real  flaw, 
its  design,  lies  squarely  with  the  publisher. 
Here,  it  appears,  a New  York  designer  was  set 
loose  to  try  and  bend  the  images  and  words  to 
his  will  or  that  of  a budget.  It  is  a shame  to  see 
more  than  a decade  of  effort  tainted  in  the 
final  moments,  but  like  street  noises  filtering 
into  a concert  hall  before  the  lights  go  down, 
this  distraction  is  quickly  forgotten,-  Heins's 
paintings  hold  sway. 

"I  painted  the  first  plate  for  this  book  thir- 
teen years  ago,"  Heins  says.  "Each  drawing 
takes  me  about  a month  to  complete.  Some- 
times I do  only  one  leaf  in  a day,  but  I am 
content.  For  as  Ruskin  said,  'He  who  paints 
one  leaf  paints  the  world.'"  Heins  has  given  us 
a vivid  glimpse  of  her  world  and  of  the  plant 
world  in  this  book. 


John  Barstow  is  Articles  Editor  of  Horticulture  maga- 
zine. Kate  Gridley  is  an  artist. 


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Volume  47  Number  4 Fall  1987 

Arnoldia  (ISSN  0004-2633;  USPS  866-100)  is  pub- 
lished quarterly,  in  winter,  spring,  summer,  and  fall, 
by  the  Arnold  Arboretum  of  Harvard  University. 

Subscriptions  are  $12.00  per  calendar  year  domestic, 
$15.00  per  calendar  year  foreign,  payable  in  advance. 
Single  copies  are  $3.50.  All  remittances  must  be  in 
U.  S.  dollars,  by  check  drawn  on  a U.  S.  bank  or  by 
international  money  order.  Send  subscription  orders, 
remittances,  change-of-address  notices,  and  all  other 
subscription-related  communications  to:  Helen  G. 
Shea,  Circulation  Manager,  Arnoldia,  The  Arnold 
Arboretum,  Jamaica  Plain,  MA  02130-2795.  Tele- 
phone (617)  524-1718. 

Postmaster:  Send  address  changes  to: 

Arnoldia 

The  Arnold  Arboretum 
Jamaica  Plain,  MA  02130-2795. 

Copyright  © 1987,  The  President  and  Fellows  of 
Harvard  College. 

Edmund  A.  Schofield,  Editor 

Peter  Del  Tredici,  Associate  Editor 

Helen  G.  Shea,  Circulation  Manager 

Marion  D Cahan,  Editorial  Assistant  (Volunteer) 

Arnoldia  is  printed  by  the  Office  of  the  University 
Publisher,  Harvard  University. 

Front  cover: — Painting  of  the  Georgia  plume  ( Elliottia 
racemosa  Muhlenberg  ex  Elliott)  by  Esther  Heins.  Used 
through  the  artist's  generosity.  (See  page  2.)  Inside  front 
cover: — Susan  Delano  McKelvey  (1883-1964).  Photo- 
graph used  through  the  courtesy  of  Jon  Katherine  Mc- 
Kelvey. (See  page  9.)  This  page: — Photograph  of  Syringa 
vulgaris  'Amethyst'  taken  by  Susan  Delano  McKelvey 
for  her  treatise  The  Lilac  ( 1928)  (Plate  cxxiv)  [top),  and  of 
Opuntia  acanthocarpa  Engelmann,  Mazatzal  Range, 
Arizona,  photographed  by  Susan  Delano  McKelvey  on 
May  12,  1929  [bottom).  Both  photographs  are  from  the 
Archives  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum.  (See  page  9.)  Inside 
back  cover: — Portrait  of  Kirk  Boott  (1755-18  1 7)  from 
the  collections  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 
(See  page  24.)  Back  cover: — Photograph  of  Alice  East- 
wood  (1859-1953),  the  California  botanist,  on  the  road 
to  Sunflower  Mine,  Mazatzal  Range,  Arizona.  The  pho- 
tograph is  from  the  Archives  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum. 
It  was  taken  by  Susan  Delano  McKelvey  on  May  26, 
1929;  part  of  her  automobile  appears  at  the  right  edge 
of  the  photograph.  (See  page  9.) 


Page 

2 Lost  and  Found:  Elliottia  racemosa 
Peter  Del  Tredici 


9 A Life  Redeemed:  Susan  Delano  McKelvey 
and  the  Arnold  Arboretum 
Edmund  A.  Schofield 


24  Kirk  Boott  and  the  Greening  of  Boston, 
1783-1845 
Alan  Emmet 


35  Index  to  Volume  47 


Lost  and  Found:  Elliottia  racemosa 


Peter  Del  Tredici 


More  common  than  once  thought,  the 
secrets  to  persistent  biologists 

When  a plant  has  a limited  distribution  in  the 
wild,  one  is  tempted  to  think  either  that  it  has 
some  highly  specific  habitat  requirement 
that  is  not  often  met  or  has  traits  that  limit  its 
ability  to  compete  successfully  with  other 
plants.  One  can  never  predict,  however,  how 
a rare  plant  will  respond  to  cultivation  out- 
side its  native  range.  A case  in  point  is  Ginkgo 
biloba,  a tree  native  to  China  that,  although 
extinct  in  the  wild,  is  ubiquitous  in  cultiva- 
tion throughout  the  temperate  regions  of  the 
world.  In  North  America,  the  pink  shell 
azalea,  Rhododendron  vaseyi,  has  a very  lim- 
ited range  in  the  southern  Appalachian 
Mountains  yet  is  widely  and  successfully 
cultivated  throughout  the  East  Coast. 

At  the  opposite  end  of  the  spectrum  is 
Elliottia  racemosa,  the  Georgia  plume,  a 
small  tree  with  a very  limited  range  both  in 
the  wild  and  in  cultivation.  Its  native  habitat 
is  in  the  sandhills  of  eastern  and  south-cen- 
tral Georgia.  This  unusual  member  of  the 
Ericaceae  can  reach  heights  of  up  to  thirty- 
five  feet  (10.7  m)  and  have  a trunk  up  to 
twelve  inches  (30  cm)  wide.  It  is  strikingly 
beautiful  when  in  bloom,  its  pure-white  ra- 
cemes standing  high  above  the  bright-green 
foliage.  The  flowers  are  remarkably  uneri- 
caceous  in  appearance,  having  four  or  five  free 


Elliottia  racemosa  Muhlenberg  ex  Elliott,  the  Georgia 
plume: — A flowering  branch  (1);  vertical  section  of  a 
flower  (2);  a flower  with  its  corolla  and  stamens  re- 
moved (3);  front,  side,  and  rear  views  of  a stamen  (4); 
and  a cross-section  of  an  ovary.  From  Garden  and  Forest, 
Volume  7 (1894),  page  205. 


Georgia  plume  is  slowly  yielding  its 


petals  that  are  not  fused  to  form  a corolla 
tube,  a trait  that  marks  it  as  more  "primitive" 
than  other  members  of  the  family  (Bohn  et  al., 
1978).  In  its  native  Georgia,  Elliottia  blooms 
from  the  middle  of  June  to  the  end  of  July.  The 
plant  comes  into  flower  progressively  later  as 
one  moves  farther  north. 

In  spite  of  all  its  positive  horticultural  at- 
tributes— its  beautiful  flowers,  good  fall 
color,  and  hardiness  to  minus  ten  Fahrenheit 
(-23  C) — Elliottia  is  very  rare  in  cultivation. 
This  neglect  is  all  the  more  amazing  when 
one  considers  that  the  plant  was  first  discov- 
ered over  two  hundred  years  ago,  in  1773,  by 
William  Bartram  (Ewan,  1968)  and  was  de- 
scribed by  Gotthilf  Muhlenberg  in  1817,  who 
named  it  in  honor  of  Stephen  Elliott.  A cur- 
sory perusal  of  the  literature  quickly  reveals 
the  source  of  the  problem:  in  the  wild, 
Elliottia  is  very  shy  about  forming  fruit,  so 
shy,  in  fact,  that  until  1903 — one  hundred 
thirty  years  after  Bartram's  discovery — no 
mature  capsule  had  been  found  in  nature  or  in 
cultivation,  and  then  only  an  empty  one. 
More  amazing  still  is  the  fact  that  no  ripe 
seeds  were  discovered  until  1934,  and  even 
these  seeds  contained  only  "imperfect  em- 
bryos" (Wherry,  1936). 

On  top  of  this  difficulty  with  seed  produc- 
tion, the  plant  is  considered  difficult  to  trans- 
plant, and  early  efforts  to  collect  specimens 
from  the  wild  generally  failed,  with  the  no- 
table exception  of  "three  or  four  plants"  col- 
lected by  Asa  Gray  near  Augusta,  Georgia,  in 
1875  and  planted  out  on  the  grounds  of  the 


4 Elliottia  iacemosa 


P.  J.  Berckmans's  Nursery  outside  that  city 
(Sargent,  1902).  For  many  years,  these  were 
the  only  known  cultivated  specimens  of  Elli- 
ottia. They  were  last  reported  alive,  but  in 
poor  health,  in  1923  (Trudell,  1926).  This 
difficulty  with  transplanting  is  somewhat 
surprising,  given  the  fact  that  in  the  wild  the 
plant  suckers  freely  from  its  roots,  particu- 
larly in  response  to  injury  or  disturbance, 
such  as  fire.  The  early  propagations  of  Elliot- 
tia probably  involved  digging  up  just  such 
young  root  sprouts. 

In  the  early  1900s  botanists  renewed  the 
search  for  Elliottia,  discovering  several  new 
colonies  (Harper,  1903;  Trudell,  1926,  1929). 
Their  finds  stimulated  the  interest  of  horti- 
culturists, and  cultivated  plants  were  re- 
ported growing  at  Kew  Gardens,  England,  in 
1902  (sent  there  by  Berckmans's  Nursery) 
(Prain,  1912);  at  the  Biltmore  Forest  in  Ashe- 
ville, North  Carolina,  in  1934  (Knight,  1938); 
and  at  the  Henry  Foundation  in  Gladwyne, 
Pennsylvania,  in  1936  (Henry,  1941).  No 
doubt  many  other  specimens  have  been  and 
still  are  in  cultivation,  but  these  are  among 
the  oldest  and  historically  most  significant. 

Ecology 

While  early  botanical  authors  considered  El- 
liottia to  be  "one  of  the  rarest  North  Ameri- 
can trees"  (Sargent,  1902),  more  modern  re- 
search has  shown  this  not  to  be  the  case. 
Since  the  1950s,  Dr.  George  Rogers  of  Geor- 
gia Southern  College  and  Dr.  John  Bozeman 
of  the  Georgia  Department  of  Natural  Re- 
sources have  discovered  about  thirty  new 
locations  where  the  plant  grows.  In  all,  Boze- 
man estimates,  there  are  about  seventy  dis- 
tinct sites  for  Elliottia,  all  in  Georgia.  Some 
stands  are  as  small  as  twenty  feet  by  twenty 
feet,  while  others  cover  many  acres.  Almost 
all  of  them  are  located  along  the  Altamaha, 
Ocmulgee,  and  Canoochee  rivers  or  their 
tributaries.  The  Big  Hammock  Natural  Area 
in  Tattnall  County,  containing  nearly  four 
hundred  acres  of  Elliottia,  is  one  of  the  best 
places  to  see  the  plant.  Currently,  Elliottia  is 


Portrait  of  Stephen  Elliott.  From  the  Archives  of  the 
Arnold  Arboretum. 


considered  too  common  to  be  granted  "rare 
and  endangered"  status  by  the  United  States 
Fish  and  Wildlife  Service,  but  the  state  of 
Georgia  classified  it  "endangered"  in  1977 
and  has  protected  it  ever  since. 

As  far  as  seed  production  in  the  wild  goes, 
Dr.  Bozeman  has  found  that  the  smaller  the 
colony  the  less  the  likelihood  that  it  will  pro- 
duce seed.  The  large  colonies  he  is  familiar 
with  "all  produce  seed  on  a regular  basis."  Ac- 
cording to  Bozeman,  the  root-suckering  habit 
of  Elliottia  may  partially  explain  the  vagaries 
of  seed  production.  He  postulates  that  those 
populations  that  set  viable  seed  (generally 
speaking,  the  large  ones)  consist  of  more  than 
one  genetically  distinct  clone,  while  popula- 
tions that  don't  (the  small  ones)  are  mono- 
clonal. This  lack  of  genetic  diversity  inhibits 
outcrossing  and  therefore  limits  their  seed 


Elliottia  racemosa  5 


t 


1 


Elliottia  racemosa.  From  Curtis's  Botanical  Magazine 
(1912). 


production.  Over  time,  these  smaller,  in- 
breeding  populations  would  become  ho- 
mozygous for  a wider  variety  of  recessive 
traits,  including  self-incompatibility,  than 
the  larger,  outcrossing  populations. 

Another  factor  that  probably  affects 
Elliottia' s ability  to  produce  viable  seed  was 
discovered  by  Dr.  Frank  S.  Santamour. 
Elliottia  pollen,  he  reported  in  1967,  was  only 
five  to  six  percent  viable  when  the  flowers 
were  opening.  He  postulated  that  this  low 
viability  may  be  due  to  the  accumulation  of 


recessive  lethal  or  sublethal  genes  as  a result 
of  extensive  inbreeding. 

Seed  Germination 

The  first  break  in  the  propagation  of  Elliottia 
came  in  1941,  when  Mary  Henry,  of  the 
Henry  Foundation,  published  the  first  illus- 
tration of  ripe  Elliottia  fruit  (a  photograph  of 
ripe  fruit  produced  by  a plant  growing  in  her 
garden  at  Gladwyne,  Pennsylvania).  Accom- 
panying the  picture  is  the  cryptic  caption:  "It 
has  been  considered  sterile  to  its  own  pollen 
but  no  other  Elliottia  was  growing  near  this 
plant."  Unfortunately,  Henry  does  not  men- 
tion fruit  formation  in  the  body  of  her  article 
or  whether  she  ever  tried  to  germinate  the 
seeds  it  contained. 

The  first  successful  germination  of  Elliot- 
tia seed  was  reported  by  Alfred  J.  Fordham  of 
the  Arnold  Arboretum  (Fordham,  1969).  He 
was  able  to  raise  five  seedlings  from  wild- 
collected  seeds  sent  to  him  in  1964.  At  the 
time,  however,  he  could  not  determine  the 
nature  of  their  seed-dormancy  mechanism.  In 
another  article,  published  in  1981,  Fordham 
cleared  up  the  problem.  He  reported  that 
Elliottia  seed  required  a chilling  period  in 
order  to  germinate  and  recommended  three 
months's  cold  stratification  in  order  to  break 
their  dormancy.  Unfortunately,  he  did  not 
publish  data  on  the  percentages  of  germina- 
tion. 

Fordham  also  reported  success  in  rooting 
the  young  shoots  that  sprouted  from  pieces  of 
Elliottia  roots  removed  from  a large  plant  in 
March  and  planted  in  a warm  greenhouse. 
This  propagation  technique  takes  advantage 
of  the  natural  tendency  of  the  plant  to  pro- 
duce root  suckers  in  the  wild. 

In  1985,  I undertook  a series  of  germina- 
tion tests  to  determine  exactly  how  much 
chilling  the  seeds  required.  The  seeds  that  I 
used  in  the  tests  were  produced  by  the  Arnold 
Arboretum's  lone  plant,  #977-62,  which 
Henry  Hohman  of  Kingsville  Nurseries, 
Kingsville,  Maryland,  had  donated  to  the  Ar- 
boretum in  1962,  when  it  was  nine  feet  (2.75 


6 Elliottia  lacemosa 


m)  tall.  Because  it  was  the  Arboretum's  only 
plant  and  was  of  questionable  hardiness,  it 
had  been  moved  indoors  each  winter  for 
nearly  ten  years  before  being  planted  out-of- 
doors  in  1972.  Since  then,  the  plant  has  grown 
well  and  is  now  a healthy,  single-trunked 
specimen,  still  nine  feet  (2.75  m)  tall  and  four 
feet  (1.2  m)  wide.  While  this  plant  has  often 
produced  seed  capsules,  seed  collected  from 
these  capsules  generally  have  failed  to  germi- 
nate. However,  in  1985,  an  unusually  heavy 
crop  of  fruit  was  produced,  and  these  were 
harvested  on  2 1 October  for  a series  of  germi- 
nation tests.  The  test  was  set  up  with  only  the 
viable  seeds — that  is,  seeds  having  large 
embryos.  All  seeds  lacking  embryos  were 
discarded. 

From  our  one  plant,  we  collected  three 
hundred  sixty  viable  seeds,  dividing  them 
into  four  lots  of  ninety  seeds.  On  28  October, 
we  either  sowed  seeds  directly  in  a green- 
house kept  at  a minimum  temperature  of 
sixty-five  Fahrenheit  (18.5  C)  or  placed  them 
in  small  polyethylene  bags  containing  moist 
stratification  medium  (fifty  percent  sand  and 
fifty  percent  peat  moss)  and  chilled  them  in  a 
refrigerator  at  thirty-six  Fahrenheit  (2  C).  At 
intervals,  we  removed  the  bags  from  the  cold 
and  sowed  the  seeds  they  contained  in  a warm 
greenhouse  (sixty-five  Fahrenheit)  (21  C), 
with  the  following  results: 

Number 

Days  of  Cold  Days  to  First  of  Seeds  Percentage 
Lot*  Stratification  Germination  Germinated  Germination 


1 

0 

56 

1 

1 

2 

42 

19 

64 

71 

3 

66 

21 

66 

73 

4 

64 

21 

74 

82 

'Ninety  seeds  per  lot. 


Elliottia  seeds  require  a moist  chilling 
period  of  about  one  month  to  stimulate  ger- 
mination. This  stands  in  contrast  to  the  be- 
havior of  the  seeds  of  most  species  of  Rhodo- 
dendron, which  require  light  but  not  chilling 
for  germination.  In  this  regard,  however,  it 
should  be  noted  that  tests  with  the  seeds  of 
various  Rhododendron  species  have  shown 


Mature  fruit  capsules  and  viable  seeds  of  Elliottia 
racemosa  collected  from  the  wild  in  Georgia  on  October 
6,  1987,  by  Dr.  George  Rogers.  The  scale  at  the  bottom 
of  the  figure  is  in  millimeters.  Photographed  by  Peter 
Del  Tredici. 


that,  while  they  don't  absolutely  require  a 
chilling  period  to  germinate,  subjecting  them 
to  one  month's  stratification  before  sowing 
both  accelerated  the  rate  and  increased  the 
percentage  of  germination. 

It  is  not  clear  what  the  significance  is  of  the 
fact  that  isolated  specimens  of  Elliottia  in 
cultivation  have  often  been  reported  to  set 
viable  seed  (Henry,  1941;  Fordham,  1981). 
Obviously,  one  cannot  simply  say  that  low 
seed-set  in  the  wild  is  entirely  due  to  self- 
incompatibility. It  is  important  to  realize  that 
both  the  Arboretum's  plant,  which  set  close 
to  four  hundred  viable  seeds  in  1985,  and  the 
plant  investigated  by  Frank  Santamour  in 
1966,  only  5.5  percent  of  whose  pollen  was 
viable,  came  from  Henry  Hohman  of 
Kingsville  Nurseries  in  Maryland. 

While  it  is  not  known  whether  these  two 
Hohman  plants  are  sibling  seedlings  or  iden- 
tical vegetative  propagations,  they  probably 
have  very  similar  genetic  backgrounds.  As- 
suming this  to  be  the  case,  it  seems  likely  that 
climatic  factors  during  bud  set  in  the  fall  or 
floral  development  in  the  spring  might  inter- 


Elliottia  racemosa  7 


Elliottia  racemosa  flowering  in  the  Arnold  Arboretum. 
Photographed  by  Peter  Del  Tredici. 


act  with  genetic  factors  to  determine  pollen 
viability.  This  would  mean  that  in  the  year 
Santamour  did  his  testing,  pollen  viability 
was  low,  while  in  1985,  when  the  Arboretum 
plant  set  copious  seed,  viability  was  consid- 
erably higher  than  that.  Obviously,  more 
studies  of  the  matter  are  called  for. 


Cultivation 

Given  the  fact  that  the  proper  treatment  of 
Elliottia  seeds  is  now  known,  one  is  tempted 
to  say  that  the  last  impediment  to  its  wider 
cultivation  has  been  removed,  but  sadly  this 
is  not  the  case.  Propagators  throughout  the 
East  Coast  have  reported  that,  even  when 
seed  is  available,  many  seedlings  die  from 
Phytophthora  fungus  infection  (damp-off). 

Luckily,  we  did  not  experience  such  losses 
to  damp-off  with  our  seedlings  at  the  Arnold 
Arboretum.  This  may  be  due  to  the  fact  that 
at  the  time  of  their  potting  up  in  May  1986, 1 
collected  several  handfuls  of  soil  from  under 
the  mother  plant  with  pieces  of  Elliottia  root 
included.  I forced  this  soil  through  a screen 
and  then  mixed  it  with  the  sand  and  peat 
moss  mix  used  for  potting  the  seedling  into.1 
Losses  have  been  minimal,  and  most  plants 
are  now  about  four  to  five  inches  tall.  I did  this 
based  on  the  assumption  that  Elliottia  was  no 
different  from  many  other  members  of  the 
Ericaceae  in  being  dependent  on  "ericoid" 
mycorrhizae  for  their  proper  growth  and 
development.  All  of  our  container-grown 
plants  show  extensive  mycorrhizal  develop- 
ment, which  is  undoubtedly  involved  in  the 
uptake  of  a wide  variety  of  mineral  nutri- 
ents— in  particular  phosphorus  and  nitro- 
gen— from  the  sterile,  sandy  soils  in  which  it 
naturally  grows  (Read,  1983). 

These  seedlings  are  now  being  offered  for 
sale  to  the  readers  of  Arnoldia  for  $25  each. 
The  plants  are  all  between  four  and  six  inches 
tall  and  will  be  shipped  in  the  spring  of  1988. 
If  possible,  the  plant  should  have  another  year 
or  two  in  a container  before  planting  out.  Any 
site  with  at  least  fifty  percent  sun  and  well 
drained,  sandy  soil  enriched  with  peat  moss 
or  leaf  mould  will  do  fine.  Like  other  mem- 
bers of  the  Ericaceae,  Elliottia  must  have  acid 
soil. 

How  To  Order  Seedlings 

Please  do  not  prepay  orders,-  send  payment 
only  after  your  seedling  arrives.  Direct  your 
order  to: 


8 Elliottia  iacemosa 


Elliottia  Distribution 

Arnold  Arboretum 

Jamaica  Plain,  MA  02130-2795. 

Endnote 

1.  The  idea  to  do  this  was  stimulated  by  discussions 
with  the  late  Edmund  Mezitt  of  Weston  Nurseries,  in 
Hopkinton,  Massachusetts,  who  told  me  that  his  se- 
cret to  successful  germination  (and  subsequent 
growth]  of  Rhododendron  seed  was  to  mix  a handful 
of  screened  soil  taken  from  under  a wild-growing 
Rhododendron  with  the  standard  peat-sand  seed- 
germination  mix  used  in  the  greenhouse. 

Acknowledgments 

I thank  Dr.  John  Bozeman  of  the  Georgia  Department  of 
Natural  Resources  for  carefully  reviewing  the  manu- 
script, and  Mr.  Robert  McCartney  of  Woodlanders,  In- 
corporated, Aiken,  South  Carolina,  for  his  helpful  obser- 
vations. 

References 

Bohn,  B.  A.,  S.  W.  Brim,  R.  J.  Hebda,  and  P.  F.  Stevens. 

1978.  Generic  limits  in  the  tribe  Cladotham- 
neae  (Ericaceae),  and  its  position  in  the  Rho- 
dodendroideae.  Journal  of  the  Arnold  Arbo- 
retum, Volume  59,  Number  4,  pages  311  to 
341. 

Elliott,  S.  1971.  A Sketch  of  the  Botany  of  South  Caro- 
lina and  Georgia.  Introduction  by  Joseph 
Ewan.  New  York:  Hafner  Publishing  Com- 
pany. [Reprint  of  the  1821  edition.] 

Ewan,  Joseph.  1968.  William  Bartram:  Botanical  and 
Zoological  Drawings,  1756-1788.  Memoirs  of 
the  American  Philosophical  Society,  Volume 
74,  pages  1 to  180. 

Fordham,  Alfred  J.  1969.  Elliottia  racemosa  and  its 
propagation.  Arnoldia,  Volume  29,  Number  3, 
pages  17  to  20. 

. 1981.  Elliottia — propagational  data  for 

four  species.  International  Plant  Propagators 
Society  Proceedings,  Volume  31,  pages  436  to 
440. 

Harper,  R.  M.  1902.  Notes  on  Elliottia  racemosa.  Plant 
World,  Volume  5,  Number  5,  pages  87  to  90. 

. 1903a.  Two  new  stations  for  EUiottia. 

Plant  World,  Volume  6,  Number  3,  page  60. 


. 1903b.  Elliottia  racemosa  again.  Tor- 

reya,  Volume  3,  Number  7,  page  106. 

Henry,  M.  G.  1941.  Elliottia  racemosa.  National  Horti- 
cultural Magazine,  Volume  20,  Number  3, 
pages  223  to  226. 

Knight,  W.  A.  1938.  A rare  American  shrub.  Bulletin  of 
Popular  Information  of  the  Arnold  Arbore- 
tum, Series  4,  Volume  4,  Number  2,  pages  7 to 
13. 

Mellinger,  M.  B.  1967.  The  lost  Elliottia.  The  American 
Horticultural  Magazine,  Volume  46,  Number 
2,  pages  94  to  95. 

Prain,  D.  1912.  Elliottia  racemosa.  Curtis's  Botanical 
Magazine,  Volume  138,  Number  85,  Plate 
8413. 

Read,  D.  J.  1983.  The  biology  of  mycorrhiza  in  the 
Ericales.  Canadian  Journal  of  Botany,  Volume 
61,  Number  3,  pages  985  to  1004. 

Santamour,  Frank  S.,  Jr.  1967.  Cytology  and  sterility  in 
Elliottia  racemosa.  Morris  Arboretum 
Bulletin,  Volume  18,  Number  3,  pages  60  to 
63. 

Sargent,  Charles  Sprague,  1894.  Elliottia  racemosa. 

Garden  and  Forest,  Volume  7,  Number  326, 
page  206. 

. 1902.  The  Silva  of  North  America,  Vol- 
ume 14,  pages  29  to  32. 

Sealey,  J.  R.  1938.  Elliottia  racemosa.  New  Flora  and 
Silva,  Volume  10,  Number  3,  pages  154  to  164. 

Small,  J.  K.  1901.  The  rediscovery  of  Elhottia.  Journal  of 
the  New  York  Botanical  Garden,  Volume  2, 
Number  7,  pages  113  to  114. 

Trudell,  H.  W.  1925-1926.  Rescuing  Elliottia.  Bartonia, 
Number  9,  pages  11  to  15. 

. 1927-1928.  A new  colony  of  Elliottia. 

Bartonia,  Number  10,  pages  24  to  27. 

Wherry,  Edgar  T.  1935.  Discovery  of  Elliottia  seed.  Bar- 
tonia, Number  17,  page  51. 

Wood,  Carroll  E.,  Jr.  1961.  The  genera  of  Ericaceae  in  the 
southeastern  United  States.  Journal  of  the 
Arnold  Arboretum,  Volume  42,  Number  1, 
pages  10  to  80  [Elliottia,  pages  20  to  23). 


Peter  Del  Tredici  is  the  Arnold  Arboretum's  Assistant 
Plant  Propagator.  He  writes  frequently  for  Arnoldia  and 
other  horticultural  and  botanical  publications. 


A Life  Redeemed:  Susan  Delano  McKelvey  and  the 
Arnold  Arboretum 

Edmund  A.  Schofield 


Fleeing  a broken  marriage  in  middle  age,  a wealthy  New  York  socialite  came 
to  Boston  and  created  a wholly  new  life  as  botanist  at  the  Arnold  Arboretum 


Towards  the  end  of  the  First  World  War  there 
came  to  the  Arnold  Arboretum  a thirty-six- 
year-old  woman  whose  life  had  just  fallen  to 
pieces.  To  be  sure,  she  could  command  re- 
sources to  cushion  the  fall  that  no  ordinary 
person  could — great  wealth,  family  name, 
social  prominence — but  those  resources  had 
been  powerless  to  prevent  it.  A native  of 
Philadelphia,  a graduate  of  Bryn  Mawr  Col- 
lege, and  a member  of  New  York's  social  elite 
(she  was,  for  example,  a cousin  of  President- 
to-be  Franklin  Delano  Roosevelt),  the  woman 
had  married  a New  York  attorney  in  1 907,  set- 
tling into  a comfortable  life  on  Long  Island  as 
wife,  mother,  and  socialite.  But  the  Great  War 
soon  called  her  husband  away  to  Washington, 
D.  C.,  and  in  1916  one  of  her  two  young  sons 
died.  At  war's  end,  upon  her  husband's  return, 
their  marriage  broke  up.  No  doubt  to  escape 
the  tempest  their  separation  would  cause  in 
New  York  society,  she  fled  to  Boston,  where 
she  apparently  had  relatives  (she  was  de- 
scended from  the  Adamses  of  nearby  Brain- 
tree, for  example,  and  from  the  Bradfords  of 
Plymouth).  In  Boston  she  would  create  for 
herself  an  entirely  new  life:  she  would  be- 
come, of  all  things,  a botanist. 

Her  training  in  this  new  and  unfamiliar 
field  started  literally  from  scratch.  Not  long 
after  arriving  in  Boston  she  approached  Pro- 
fessor Charles  Sprague  Sargent,  the  founding 
Director  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum,  about  the 
possibility  of  working  as  a volunteer  at  the 


Arboretum — perhaps  as  a means  of  forgetting 
her  marital  troubles.  She  wanted  to  study 
landscape  architecture,  too.  In  any  event, 
"The  Professor,"  as  she  came  to  call  Sargent, 
set  her  to  washing  clay  pots  in  the 
Arboretum's  greenhouses,  to  test  her  resolve. 
Presently,  at  Sargent's  urging,  she  began  to 
study  the  plants  on  the  grounds  of  the  Arbo- 
retum and  in  its  greenhouses  under  the  tute- 
lage of  William  H.  Judd  (1861-1949),  who  was 
the  Arboretum's  propagator. 

Early  on,  she  took  a particular  interest  in 
the  lilac  collection,  just  then  under  develop- 
ment. For  the  next  four  and  a half  decades,  in 
one  capacity  or  another,  this  dedicated,  re- 
sourceful, and  indefatigable  woman  was  af- 
filiated with  the  Arnold  Arboretum.  During 
those  decades,  which  seem  to  have  been 
happy  ones,  she  became  a respected  botanist, 
making  many  collecting  forays  to  the  western 
United  States  and  writing  three  scholarly 
works  in  her  chosen  field.  Upon  Sargent's 
death  in  1927,  perhaps  out  of  gratitude  for  his 
and  the  Arboretum's  crucial  aid  in  rehabili- 
tating her  life,  she  and  her  brothers— one  of 
them  an  internationally  known  architect — 
contributed  generously  to  the  Arboretum's 
endowment. 

Ultimately,  she  became  a member  of  the 
Arboretum's  Visiting  Committee  and  a 
staunch  champion  of  the  Arboretum  during 
the  painful  and  divisive  court  battle  of  the 
1 950s  and  1 960s,  the  so-called  "Arnold  Arbo- 


10  Susan  Delano  McKelvey 


return  controversy.”  Her  name  was  Susan 
Adams  Delano  McKelvey,  nee  Susan  Magoun 
Delano.  Until  now,  few  details  of  her  life  have 
been  known.  Here,  in  brief,  then,  is  her  life's 
story,  reconstructed  from  evidence  scattered 
from  California  and  Mexico  to  Boston,  New 
York,  and  Philadelphia. 

Her  Early  Years:  1883-1919 
Susan  Adams  Delano  (as  she  preferred  to  be 
known)  was  born  Susan  Magoun  Delano  in 
Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania,  on  March  13, 
1883,  of  "pure  New  England  ancestry — par- 
sons, shipbuilders  and  shipowners,  school- 
masters, bankers,  and  so  forth" — to  use  her 
brother  William's  phrase.  She  was  the  fifth 
child  of  Eugene  Delano  (a  merchant  and 
banker)  and  Susan  Magoun  Adams  Delano. 
Her  maternal  grandfather,  the  Reverend  Wil- 
liam Adams  (1807-1880;  Yale,  1830),  had 
been  instrumental  in  founding  Union  Theo- 
logical Seminary  in  New  York  and,  from  1873 
until  his  death,  had  served  as  its  president. 
While  Susan  Delano  was  yet  a child  the  fam- 
ily left  Philadelphia  for  New  York  City, 
where  she  grew  up.  Entering  Bryn  Mawr 
College's  Class  of  1906  early  in  the  new  cen- 
tury, she  majored  in  English  and  French.  In 
her  freshman  and  senior  years  she  played  on 
her  class  field  hockey  team.  Taking  not  a 
single  botany  or  biology  course,  she  used 
instead  the  first-year  geology  course  to  fulfill 
her  science  requirement.  In  1907  she  gradu- 
ated. 

On  October  8,  1907,  she  married  a young 
attorney,  Charles  Wylie  McKelvey  ( 1878— 
1957),  and  moved  with  him  to  an  estate  ("ten 
acres  on  which  there  is  a remodeled  white 
frame  colonial  house,  large  farm  group  and 
two  cottages")  in  Oyster  Bay,  Long  Island, 
only  a few  miles  from  Syosset,  home  of  her 
brother,  William  Adams  Delano  (1874-1960), 
an  architect.  Her  husband  and  her  brothers 
William  (who  was  affectionately  known  as 
"Billy")  and  Moreau  ( 1877- 1 936;  a banker)  all 
were  graduates  of  Yale  (classes  of  1900,  1895, 
and  1898,  respectively);  at  Yale,  all  had  been 


Susan  Delano  in  1898,  at  about  the  age  of  fifteen  years. 
Photograph  courtesy  of  Jon  Katherine  McKelvey. 


members  of  the  Scroll  and  Key  senior  society, 
and  it  was  no  doubt  through  the  society  and 
her  brother  Moreau  that  she  met  her  husband, 
Charles. 

After  graduating  from  Yale,  Billy  studied  at 
the  Columbia  University  School  of  Architec- 
ture and  then  at  the  Ecole  des  Beaux- Arts  in 
Paris,  from  which  he  received  a diplome 
in  1 902.  Returning  to  New  York,  Billy  and  his 
friend  Chester  Holmes  Aldrich  (1871-1940) 
founded  the  architectural  firm  of  Delano  & 
Aldrich  in  1903.  In  the  same  year  he  began 
teaching  design  at  Columbia.  Over  the  next 
several  decades  Billy  Delano  would  establish 
a national  and  international  reputation  as  an 
architect.  He  would  design  vast  estates  on 
Long  Island,  embassies  in  Paris  and  Washing- 
ton, the  Post  Office  in  Washington,  D.  C.,  and 


Susan  Delano  McKelvey  1 1 


Portrait  of  William  Adams  Delano  (1874-1960),  Susan 
Delano  McKelvey’s  elder  brother,  by  Dunbar  Beck. 
Courtesy  of  the  National  Academy  of  Design. 


the  Venice  Art  Gallery,-  in  1948,  at  the  request 
of  President  Truman,  he  would  design  the 
second-story  balcony  in  the  south  portico  of 
the  White  House.  From  1949  until  1952 
would  be  consulting  architect  to  the 
Commission  on  the  Renovation  of  the  Execu- 
tive Mansion  and  from  1929  until  1946  a 
member  of  the  National  Capital  Park  and 
Planning  Commission.  In  1958,  toward  the 
end  of  his  long  and  productive  life,  he  would 
be  able  to  declare  in  an  interview  with  the 
New  Yorker  magazine  that  "I've  known  every 
President  of  the  United  States  from  Teddy 
Roosevelt  to  the  present  day,  except  Har- 
ding." 

Some  time  during  the  1910s  (the  record  is 
unclear  on  the  exact  date)  the  Delanos — Billy, 
Moreau,  and  Susan  McKelvey— apparently 
became  benefactors  of  the  Arnold  Arbore- 
tum, responding  perhaps  to  one  of  Charles 


Sprague  Sargent's  annual  funding  appeals. 
Though  the  record  is  unclear  on  this  point  and 
an  exact  chronology  probably  irretrievable,  it 
seems  likely  that  there  was  some  kind  of 
connection  between  the  Delanos  and  the 
Arboretum  before  Mrs.  McKelvey  retreated 
to  Boston  in  1919.  Perhaps  her  brother  Wil- 
liam, being  an  architect  and  therefore  inter- 
ested in  the  use  of  plants  for  landscaping,  had 
made  the  initial  contact  in  the  course  of  some 
routine  business.  In  any  event,  once  in  Boston 
Susan  Delano  McKelvey  was  able  to  start 
rebuilding  her  shattered  life  with  the  indis- 
pensable help  of  Charles  Sprague  Sargent  and 
the  Arnold  Arboretum. 

In  Lilac  Time:  1919-1928 

Once  Sargent  had  given  her  the  initial  nudge, 
McKelvey  threw  herself  wholeheartedly  into 
mastering  the  various  aspects  of  botany, 
maintaining  her  zeal  for  the  subject  virtually 
until  her  death  in  1964.  She  began  her  career 
in  classic  fashion  by  participating  in  a botani- 
cal "expedition,"  an  arduous,  five-week  col- 
lecting trip  to  Glacier  National  Park  in  Au- 
gust and  September  1921.  Years  before  (in  the 
1880s)  Charles  Sargent  had  recommended 
that  the  area  and  its  "appallingly  grand"  scen- 
ery "be  set  aside  as  a forest  preserve."  Mc- 
Kelvey was  accompanied  by  her  surviving 
son,  thirteen-year-old  Delano  McKelvey 
(1908-1965);  Professor  John  G.  Jack  (1896- 
1 935)  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum,-  and  a man  she 
identified  in  her  diary  only  as  "Mr.  Dali." 
(Dali  may  have  been  a son  of  William  Healy 
Dali  [1845-1927],  the  paleontologist  who  had 
worked  at  the  Smithsonian  Institution  and 
after  whom  the  Dali's  sheep  was  named.  A 
native  of  Boston,  the  elder  Dali  had  studied 
with  Louis  Agassiz  at  Harvard  and  had 
worked  in  the  West  and  Alaska  in  his  younger 
days.  Less  likely,  "Mr.  Dali"  may  have  been 
Curtis  B.  Dali,  a son-in-law-to-be  of  Franklin 
Delano  Roosevelt,  whose  daughter  he  mar- 
ried in  1926.)  In  any  event,  "Mr.  Dali"  was  the 
expedition's  official  photographer.  Many  of 
his  photographs,  "taken  for  Mrs.  Susan  De- 


12  Susan  Delano  McKelvey 


lano  McKelvey/'  are  preserved  in  the  Ar- 
chives of  the  Arnold  Arboretum. 

Travelling  by  train  from  New  York  City, 
the  party  passed  through  Cleveland,  northern 
Indiana,  and  Chicago,-  crossed  the  Missis- 
sippi; and  proceeded  to  Saint  Paul,  where  they 
boarded  the  Great  Northern  Railroad  for  the 
last  leg  of  the  trip,  passing  through  North 
Dakota  and  thence  into  Montana.  All  during 
the  trip,  Susan  McKelvey  took  careful  notes 
on  the  landscape  and  plants  she  saw  from  the 
train's  window,  notes  that  show  she  was 
progressing  well  in  her  study  of  botany.  After 
three  days  of  travel  they  were  in  Glacier 
National  Park. 

Because  little  botanical  work  had  been 
done  in  the  gargantuan,  million-acre  Park 
since  it  was  established  in  1910,  the  expedi- 
tion offered  an  opportunity  for  making  origi- 
nal contributions  to  botany.  Travelling  first 
by  bus  and  then  afoot  and  on  horseback,  the 
party  made  well  over  four  hundred  collec- 
tions of  herbaceous  and  woody  plants  in  the 
Park  and  from  nearby  parts  of  Montana. 
"There  is  no  time  like  the  present"  to  collect 
a plant,  Professor  Jack  had  admonished 
McKelvey  on  this,  her  first-ever  collecting 
trip. 

Jack  introduced  her  to  the  rigors  of  packing 
and  shipping  live  plants  back  to  the  Arnold 
Arboretum  and — worse  yet — of  pressing  and 
drying  plant  specimens.  "Specimens  are 
placed  in  manila — labelled — . . . ,"  she  wrote 
in  her  diary,  "and  then  placed  between  blot- 
ters on  driers.  These  are  strapped  between  the 
wooded  slats  and  strapped  tight.  There  is 
plenty  of  steam  heat  at  Many  Glacier  which 
helps  in  the  drying.  Mr.  J[ack],  suggests  stand- 
ing them  sidewise  so  that  the  heat  can  have 
freer  circulation.  The  driers  are  changed 
morning  & evening  which  is  quite  a job!"  A 
few  days  later  she  confided,  "Rested  in  am.  if 
it  can  be  so  called  as  I pressed  & dried  speci- 
mens. Can't  possibly  label  everything  now." 

In  July  of  the  next  year  McKelvey  and  Jack 
made  a much  briefer  collecting  trip,  to  the 
White  Mountains  of  New  Hampshire.  Back  in 


Susan  Delano  McKelvey  as  a young  woman.  This  pho- 
tograph was  taken  in  New  York  City  before  Mrs.  Mc- 
Kelvey came  to  Boston.  It  is  used  through  the  courtesy 
of  Jon  Katherine  McKelvey. 


Boston,  McKelvey  worked  up  both  collec- 
tions and  in  March  1923,  at  Sargent's  sugges- 
tion, shipped  nearly  two  hundred  specimens 
to  Alice  Eastwood  (1859-1953)  at  the  Califor- 
nia Academy  of  Sciences,  initiating  thereby  a 
long  and  friendly  association  with  the  re- 
nowned California  botanist.  Early  in  her  ca- 
reer Eastwood  had  spent  three  days  collecting 
plants  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  with  Alfred 
Russel  Wallace  and  in  1914  had  collected  for 


Susan  Delano  McKelvey  13 


the  Arnold  Arboretum  in  the  Yukon.  "I  often 
see  your  name  on  the  Arnold  Arboretum 
specimens,"  McKelvey  wrote  to  Eastwood, 
"and  wish  I were  as  good  a collector  as  I hear 
you  are!" 

Despite  this  early  period  of  fieldwork, 
however,  McKelvey's  interest  had  begun  to 
focus  on  the  Arboretum's  developing  lilac 
collection,  again  at  the  suggestion  of  Sargent. 
In  the  Arboretum's  library,  herbarium,  and 
collection  of  living  plants  she  found  "unusual 
advantages  for  study."  It  was  in  Syringa — the 
lilacs — that  she  would  make  her  first  signifi- 
cant contribution  to  botany,  a monograph  on 
the  genus  Syringa.  Nonetheless,  she  would 
not  forget  the  collecting  techniques  she  had 
learned  in  the  wilderness  of  Montana.  They 
would  come  into  play  again  before  the  decade 
was  out. 

Over  the  next  seven  years  she  would  visit 
lilac  collections  in  the  United  States,  Canada, 
England,  and  France,  gathering  information 
for  her  book.  She  would  visit  numerous  plant 
nurseries  and  would  examine  preserved 
specimens  in  herbaria  at  Kew  and  Paris,  as 
well  as  in  the  Gray  Herbarium  of  Harvard 
University,  and  would  borrow  specimens 
from  Kew,  the  British  Museum,  Edinburgh, 
and  Budapest.  She  would  correspond  with 
Renato  Pampanini  in  Florence,  Camillo  K. 
Schneider,  Cecil  E.  C.  Fischer,  and  other  spe- 
cialists, as  well  as  with  growers  in  the  United 
States,  France,  Germany,  Switzerland,  the 
Netherlands,  and  other  countries.  She  would 
pore  over  herbals,  the  early  botanical  litera- 
ture, monographs,  botanies,  floras,  and  the 
botanical  and  horticultural  journals  of  ten 
countries,  as  well  as  the  catalogs  of  well 
known  nurseries  in  many  of  those  same  coun- 
tries. In  1925  she  would  describe  a new  spe- 
cies of  Syringa  ( Syringa  rugulosa). 

The  resulting  book,  The  Lilac:  A Mono- 
graph, appeared  in  1928,  published  by 
Macmillan.  Ernest  H.  Wilson,  "Keeper"  of 
the  Arnold  Arboretum,  had  written  a short 
section  for  it  on  the  history  and  distribution 
of  the  lilac,  and  Alfred  Rehder  had  supplied 


both  a description  of  the  genus  and  its  sec- 
tions and  a taxonomic  key,  and  had  helped  in 
many  other  ways.  By  the  time  The  Lilac  was 
published,  McKelvey  would  be  an  authority. 

The  Lilac  was  well  received.  The  Journal  of 
the  Royal  Horticultural  Society  called  it  a 
"remarkable  volume  on  the  genus  Syringa — 
a unique  monograph  which  will  for  many 
years  constitute  a monument  to  the  remark- 
able research  and  painstaking  industry  of  an 
American  lady-botanist  [sic]."  Horticulture, 
Scientific  Monthly,  Rhodora,  Landscape 
Architecture,  the  New  York  Times  and  Her- 
ald Tribune,  the  Times  of  London,  and  many 
other  publications — professional  and  lay 
alike — lavished  praise  on  it. 

In  gratitude  for  Sargent's  unstinting  sup- 
port for  the  lilac  project,  McKelvey  had 
dedicated  The  Lilac  to,  simply,  "The  Profes- 
sor." But  Sargent  would  not  know  of  it,  for  he 
had  died  on  March  22,  1927,  in  his  eighty- 
sixth  year,  whereupon  Ernest  Wilson  had 
become  "Keeper"  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum. 
With  Sargent's  death  and  the  publication  of 
her  book,  McKelvey  would  make  an  abrupt 
about-face:— she  would  turn  her  sights  to- 
ward the  plants  of  the  American  Southwest. 

The  Road  to  Freedom:  1928-1936 
McKelvey  in  Boston  and  her  brothers  William 
and  Moreau  in  New  York  contributed,  gener- 
ously but  behind  the  scenes,  to  the  Charles 
Sprague  Sargent  Memorial  Fund,  a successful 
nationwide  campaign  to  raise  one  million 
dollars  for  the  Arboretum's  endowment  in 
1928.  In  that  year  she  was  appointed  to 
Harvard's  Committee  to  Visit  the  Arnold 
Arboretum,  a position  she  filled  for  decades. 
Then,  beginning  in  October  of  that  year,  per- 
haps by  way  of  a vacation,  she  made  the  first 
(and  shortest)  of  eight  trips  she  would  make  to 
the  American  Southwest  over  the  next  eight 
years. 

In  August  1928  she  had  written  to  Alice 
Eastwood,  asking  whether  Eastwood  would 
be  interested  in  botanizing  for  a month  in 
New  Mexico  and  Arizona.  "I  would  get  a car," 


14  Susan  Delano  McKelvey 


McKelvey  offered,  "and  pay  for  your  expenses 
out  and  back.  If  you  could  pay  for  your  room 
and  food  you  would  not  have  any  other  ex- 
penses,- if  you  could  not  afford  to  do  that  then 
for  the  pleasure  of  having  you  along  I should 
do  that  too."  "I  am  very  anxious  to  study 
Junipers  and  Cypresses,"  McKelvey  ex- 
plained, "but  you  could  collect  of  course 
anything  you  wanted,- 1 would  like  your  help 
and  advice  on  those  two  plants  especially 
though."  Eastwood  replied  in  the  affirmative. 

Travelling  by  train,  again  via  Cleveland 
and  Chicago,  McKelvey  arrived  in  Lamy, 
New  Mexico,  on  October  1 1,  where  her  faith- 
ful chauffeur-cum-bodyguard,  Oscar  Edward 
Hamilton  (whom  she  called  simply  "Hamil- 
ton"), met  her  with  the  limousine  he  had 
driven  to  New  Mexico  from  Boston.  Big, 
broad-shouldered,  slow-spoken,  and  perenni- 
ally good-natured,  Hamilton  had  been  born  in 
the  Southwest,  perhaps  in  Arizona  or  Okla- 
homa, and  he  apparently  had  never  been  to 
school.  He  spoke  with  a most  pronounced 
drawl  that  must  have  contrasted  dramati- 
cally with  Susan  McKelvey's  clipped,  north- 
ern speech.  Half  an  hour  after  Hamilton  ap- 
peared, Alice  Eastwood  arrived  by  train  from 
California.  The  three  of  them  proceeded  to 
Santa  Fe  and  spent  the  night  there. 

Next  day  the  botanizing  party  started  for 
Las  Vegas  and  from  there  drove  to  Pecos 
Canyon,  Puye,  Albuquerque,  and  other  sites 
in  New  Mexico,  collecting  plants  along  the 
way.  Hamilton  and  Eastwood  took  an  imme- 
diate liking  to  one  another.  By  November  1 1, 
when  they  arrived  in  Phoenix,  Arizona,  Susan 
McKelvey  had  made  four  hundred  ten  collec- 
tions. That  very  evening  she  boarded  a train 
for  Boston,  and  Eastwood  departed  for  Cali- 
fornia. Though  she  had  not  collected  a single 
yucca,  agave,  or  cactus  on  the  trip,  it  was  in 
these  groups — especially  yucca — that  Mc- 
Kelvey would  someday  become  an  authority. 
Syringa  was  behind  her  now.  The  plants  of  the 
arid  Southwest  had  just  laid  claim  to  her  life: 
over  the  next  two  decades  Yucca  would  be  her 
principal  preoccupation,  the  Southwest  her 


special  province. 

McKelvey  must  have  been  very  much 
taken  by  the  Southwest,  for  in  December 
1928  she  informed  Eastwood  that  "It  looks 
now  as  though  I might  go  out  again,  probably 
to  southern  Arizona  and  New  Mexico,  in 
January  for  a trip  of  about  six  weeks  or  two 
months.  Miss  Edlmann,  who  is  the  English- 
woman I spoke  of  and  Miss  Sturtevant's  part- 
ner in  the  iris  nursery,  can  go  with  me.  She  is 
much  interested  in  plants."  She  tried  to  per- 
suade Eastwood  to  join  them:  "Wouldn't  you 
consider  it  enough  spring  in  those  parts  to  join 
us.  There  would  be  lots  of  room  in  the  car  and 
you  would  find  her  very  interested  and  a nice 
companion.  Just  the  kind  you  would  like." 
But  to  no  avail.  "I  wish  you  were  joining  us — 
do  change  your  mind  & telegraph, " McKelvey 
implored  Eastwood  a month  later.  "Hamilton 
is  driving  us  2gain  and  I am  sure  will  miss  you. 
He  surely  will  see  his  house." 

The  Lilac  was  selling  exceedingly  well.  In 
fact,  McKelvey  informed  Eastwood  in  Janu- 
ary that  "now  they  are  after  me  about  getting 
out  an  abridged  form  of  my  book  for  popular 
use. . . . Most  of  the  first  edition  is  sold  & of 
that  there  may  have  to  be  a reprint  before 
long.  As  no  reviews  have  come  out  yet  every- 
one seems  to  think  that  is  surprising— no  one 
is  more  astonished  than  SDMcK!"  In  1929 
McKelvey  received  the  Centennial  Gold 
Medal  of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural 
Society  for  the  book,  and  the  Schaffer  Medal 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Horticultural  Society, 
the  first  time  the  medal  had  been  awarded  for 
a book.  From  the  Garden  Club  of  America  she 
received  the  Emily  Renwick  Achievement 
Medal. 

She  already  had  "decided,  under  advice,  on 
the  subject  of  a new  book — ,"  she  informed 
Eastwood,  "on  the  non-indigenous  trees  in 
the  U.  S.  A.  It  means  seeing  the  best  old 
specimens  & getting  their  history  & photo- 
graphs & will  take  the  rest  of  my  life."  But 
when  she  returned  to  Boston  after  the  second 
trip  to  the  Southwest  she  reported  to 
Eastwood  that  "I  am  a cactus  enthusiast 


Susan  Delano  McKelvey  15 


now — and  an  Agave  one."  By  July,  after  a 
third  trip  to  the  Southwest,  this  time  in  the 
company  of  Eastwood,  she  was  contemplat- 
ing a book  "on  the  common  trees  of 
Arizona— including  such  things  as  Yucca, 
Agaves,  Cacti,  etc.,"  with  Eastwood  contrib- 
uting a section  on  the  herbaceous  plants.  "I 
am  much  more  interested  in  that  subject," 
McKelvey  confessed. 

The  second  trip  had  lasted  for  nearly  two 
months  (January  16-March  17,  1929).  Again 
travelling  by  train,  McKelvey  and  her  com- 
panion, Violet  F.  Edlmann  ( died.  1963),  had 
arrived  in  Tucson  on  January  19,  remaining  in 
Arizona  until  March  16.  (Miss  Edlmann  had 
"left  for  East"  on  February  24.)  McKelvey 
made  nearly  five  hundred  collections  in  just 
under  two  months,  among  which  were  agave, 
yucca,  and  cactus  specimens. 

Violet  Frederika  Edlmann,  a well-to-do 
Englishwoman,  lived  in  Wellesley  Farms, 
Massachusetts,  at  the  time.  An  associate  of 
the  pioneering  iris  hybridizer  Grace  Stur- 
tevantf  1865-1947)  from  1926  until  1931,  she 
participated  in  Sturtevant's  iris-hybridizing 
program  at  Glen  Road  Iris  Gardens  in  Welles- 
ley Farms.  In  1930  Edlmann  accompanied 
Sturtevant  on  an  iris-collecting  trip  to  Cali- 
fornia. Then,  abruptly,  she  returned  to  Eng- 
land, married  Sir  Mark  Edlmann  Collet,  2nd 
Bt.,  son  of  a sometime  Governor  of  the  Bank 
of  England,  and  passed  the  rest  of  her  life  on 
the  Isle  of  Man  as  Lady  Collet.  Though  she 
maintained  membership  in  the  British  Iris 
Society  until  her  death  in  1 963,  she  appears  to 
have  lost  interest  in  hybridizing  irises. 

McKelvey  was  back  in  Arizona  again  by 
the  end  of  April  1 929  for  her  third  foray  to  the 
Southwest.  In  Flagstaff  she  was  met  by 
Hamilton,  who  apparently  had  remained 
behind  at  his  homestead  in  the  Tucson 
Mountains.  He  had  begun  to  collect  plants  on 
his  own  in  McKelvey's  absence,  as  well  as  to 
photograph  them.  For  a few  days  they  botan- 
ized in  the  vicinity  of  Flagstaff,  the  San  Fran- 
cisco Mountains,  Prescott,  and  points  be- 
tween. On  May  5,  Alice  Eastwood  joined 


Susan  McKelvey,  impaled  by  an  aggressive  specimen  of 
Agave  palmeri  near  Fish  Creek,  Apache  Trail,  Arizona. 
This  photograph  from  the  Archives  of  the  Arnold  Arbo- 
retum was  taken  on  February  18,  1929,  by  Violet  F. 
Edlmann. 


them  at  Apache  Lodge,  and  next  morning 
they  took  the  road  to  Sunflower  Mine  in  the 
Mazatzal  Mountains.  McKelvey's  field  note- 
book shows  that  her  interest  had  indeed 
turned  rapidly  to  cacti,  yuccas,  and  agaves  on 
this  trip,  though  she  did  not  neglect  other 
plants.  By  the  time  she  left  Flagstaff  on  June  8, 
she  had  made  more  than  three  hundred  col- 
lections. 

In  July  McKelvey,  by  now  back  in  Boston, 
shipped  two  boxes  of  clothing  to  Eastwood,  to 
replace  garments  Eastwood  had  lost  in  a fire 
that  destroyed  her  house.  "Now  I do  not  want 
you  to  give  them  all  away  to  someone 
else — -,"  McKelvey  admonished,  "unless  you 
do  not  like  them.  I chose  them  out  with  care 

and  with  you  in  mind You  certainly  write 

cheerfully — as  you  would — about  the  fire." 
This  act  of  generosity  seems  to  have  been 
typical  of  McKelvey,  for  she  took  a sincere 
interest  in  Hamilton's  welfare  as  well.  She 
was  sending  him  to  school. 

"So  far  all  goes  well  about  Hamilton,"  she 
notified  Eastwood  in  July. 

I have  started  him  with  a fine  teacher — per- 
haps when  he  got  further  along  he  could  go  to 


16  Susan  Delano  McKelvey 


O.  E.  Hamilton,  Susan  McKelvey's  chauffeur,  beside  a 
fifteen- foot-tall  Opuntia  versicolor  in  the  Rincon  Moun- 
tains of  Arizona.  Mrs.  McKelvey  took  this  photograph 
on  March  19,  1930.  From  the  Archives  of  the  Arnold 
Arboretum. 


high  school.  She  says  he  is  working  hard  but 
that  his  lack  is  abysmal.  She  is  an  older 
woman  and  seems  to  have  great  insight,  and 
like  all  who  get  to  know  Hamilton  she  says 
he  is  areal  gentleman  and  feels  there  must  be 
good  background  somewhere.  I believe  that 
the  first  thing  we  know  she  will  like  him  as 
much  as  you  and  I do. 

In  August,  McKelvey  wrote  a long  letter  to 
Eastwood.  "You  sound  as  though  you  had 
made  lots  of  headway  on  your  plants — having 
arrived  at  Compositae.  All  I have  done  is  to 
get  my  specimens  of  Cacti  & Agave  sorted  & 


labelled,  with  the  photographs  to  accompany 
them,  and  sent  off  to  [William]  Trelease  & 
[Nathaniel  Lord]  Britton." 

"Hamilton  seems  to  like  Boston,"  she 
continued, 

and  talks  as  though  he  was  here  for  life.  He 
has  not  started  in  on  photography,  develop- 
ing etc.,  but  has  his  hands  full  with  the  3 Rs. 

He  is  only  in  2nd  grade  work  his  teacher  says 
but  she  is  much  interested  in  him  and  he  is 
making  excellent  progress.  It  is  really  touch- 
ing to  see  how  hard  he  works  and  how  seri- 
ously he  takes  it  all.  Do  drop  him  a line  if  you 
get  a chance  for  he  thinks  you  have  forgotten 
him  although  I assure  him  to  the  contrary. 
That  nice  Mr.  Rehder  thanked  him  so  pleas- 
antly, at  my  suggestion,  for  the  good  collect- 
ing he  had  done.  I asked  Wilson  to  do  so  but 
he  said  "not  to  spoil  him"!  You  can  imagine 
how  mad  I felt.  I never  believe  that  anyone  is 
spoiled  by  encouragement — and  am  sure 
Hamilton  wld  not  be.  . . . 

McKelvey's  next  journey  to  the  Southwest 
(November  24,  1929-April  11,  1930)  would 
be  far  more  than  a routine  botanizing  trip. 
Indeed,  it  would  take  her  to  Nevada,  Califor- 
nia, Arizona,  and  New  Mexico  and  would 
yield  another  three  hundred  specimens,  but  a 
more  important  objective  was  the  divorce  she 
would  obtain  in  Reno  on  March  3.  Susan 
McKelvey  had  been  separated,  not  divorced, 
from  her  husband,  Charles,  since  she  left 
New  York  in  1919.  In  1927,  their  estate  in 
Oyster  Bay  had  been  sold.  Two  years  later 
Charles  McKelvey  would  retire  from  his  law 
practice  and  move  to  Vermont  and  from  there 
to  Sweden,  where  he  would  remarry  in  1932 
and — by  all  accounts—  live  out  his  remaining 
days  in  luxury,  a member  of  the  international 
"jet  set." 

Susan  McKelvey  was  acutely  sensitive  to 
the  complications  that  her  state  of  marital 
Umbo  caused.  When  a Macmillan  trade  repre- 
sentative innocently  asked  her  to  "write 
something  of  yourself  as  an  individual,  how 
you  became  interested  in  writing  the  book, 


Susan  Delano  McKelvey  17 


where  you  have  lived,  your  association  with 
horticultural  interests,  etc.,"  for  use  in  pub- 
licity about  The  Lilac,  McKelvey  flatly  re- 
fused. "I  . . . fully  understand  your  feeling 
about  the  publicity,"  the  Macmillan  repre- 
sentative replied  somewhat  gingerly.  For 
McKelvey  the  impasse  must  have  been  an 
especially  onerous  burden. 

On  September  27,  1929,  McKelvey  had 
confided  to  Alice  Eastwood  that  "There  have 
been  lots  of  family  things  to  keep  me  thinking 
and  acting,  too,  and  I am  rather  worn  out.  The 
long  &.  short  of  it  seems  to  be  that  I shall 
probably  go  to  Reno — by  November  if  pos- 
sible, & be  there  3 months.  Every  other  state 
requires  a long  continuous  residence  before 
action  can  even  be  started  and  I am  not  a free 
enough  agent  to  get  away  for  a long  time." 

On  November  4 she  wrote  Eastwood  that 
"I  am  leaving  for  Reno  on  the  1 7th  with  my 
brother  [Moreau]  and  a lawyer  [A.  E.  Foster],  It 
is  still  uncertain  what  can  be  done  and  will  be 
until  I get  out  there.  . . . Hamilton  takes  the 
car  out  this  week." 

McKelvey  did  not  leave  Boston  until  No- 
vember 24.  The  next  day,  in  Chicago,  her 
brother  and  Mr.  Foster  joined  her.  The  party 
reached  Reno  aboard  the  Overland  Limited 
on  November  27,  and  McKelvey  set  up  resi- 
dence in  the  Riverside  Hotel.  That  same  night 
the  two  men  left. 

Hamilton  had  "left  Boston  in  [the]  Lin- 
coln" on  November  22,  arriving  in  Reno  on 
December  3.  Three  days  later  he  and  Mc- 
Kelvey departed  for  the  Sierra  Nevada  and 
Lake  Tahoe,  collecting  near  Portola,  Califor- 
nia. They  collected  near  Susanville,  Califor- 
nia, a few  days  later  and  over  the  next  three 
months  made  many  botanical  forays  in  Ne- 
vada and  California,  interrupting  them  in  late 
February  and  early  March  for  the  divorce  pro- 
ceedings. 

Alas,  McKelvey's  divorce  was  not  to  be  the 
private  affair  she  must  have  fervently  hoped  it 
would  be.  In  December  a New  York  paper 
would  report  that  "Society,  especially  the  old 
guard  of  the  Washington  sq.  section,  has 


learned  with  much  regret  that  the  Charles 
Wylie  McKelveys  have  reached  a parting  of 
the  ways  after  almost  two  decades  of  marital 
bliss  [sic].  That  the  breach  has  widened  to 
such  proportions  a reconciliation  is  beyond 
the  realm  of  possibility  is  admitted  by  those 
close  to  the  McKelveys."  In  March,  the  New 
York  papers  announced  the  divorce — 
"granted  on  the  ground  of  desertion."  "GETS 
RENO  DIVORCE  FROM  C.  W.  M'KELVEY," 
the  Times  announced;  "Former  Susan  Delano 
Resumes  Maiden  Name.  . . ." 

On  February  9,  McKelvey  wrote  to  Alice 
Eastwood  from  Reno,  inviting  Eastwood  to 
join  her  for  some  collecting  in  Arizona  "after 
I leave  here."  She  reported  that,  while 

Hamilton  is  well[,]  I am  afraid  his  English  is 
hopeless;  at  all  events  he  does  not  appear  to 
hear  the  difference  and  it  often  seems  kinder 
to  let  him  go  along  in  happy  ignorance  than 
to  keep  correcting  him.  I do  not  see  that  there 
is  much  to  be  gained  by  so  doing.  It  is  rather 
pathetic  for  with  a good  education  and  his 
character  and  interests  he  might  have  gotten 
further.  Still  he  seems  to  like  the  job  he  has 
and  without  flattering  myself  in  any  way  it  is 
certainly  a better  one  than  he  has  ever  had. 

From  Nevada  McKelvey  and  Hamilton 
proceeded  in  the  Lincoln  to  Tucson,  via  King- 
man  and  Prescott.  On  March  14,  Eastwood 
arrived  from  California  for  a few  days  of  col- 
lecting near  T ucson,  departing  on  the  twenty- 
third  "to  see  Mr.  Rock" — i.e.,  Joseph  F.  C. 
Rock  (1884-1962),  the  plant  explorer,  who 
had  just  returned  to  the  United  States  from 
two  years  of  plant  collecting  in  China.  Rock 
had  landed  in  San  Francisco  on  the  twenty- 
first. 

McKelvey  and  Hamilton  motored  to  King- 
man  again  and  from  there — collecting  en 
route — headed  east  by  way  of  Holbrook, 
Arizona  ("Commercial  & Arizona  Hotels!! 
Drunk  men!!");  Albuquerque;  Amarillo, 
Texas,-  Oklahoma  City  ("Terrible  roads!"); 
Springfield,  Missouri;  Saint  Louis  (where 


18  Susan  Delano  McKelvey 


they  visited  the  Missouri  Botanical  Garden); 
and  Urbana,  Illinois.  In  Urbana  McKelvey 
called  on  Professor  William  Trelease  ( 1 857— 
1945),  a professor  of  botany  at  the  University 
of  Illinois  who  had  worked  on  the  agaves  and 
yuccas.  From  Urbana  McKelvey  went  to 
Chicago  and  boarded  a train  for  Boston. 

Eastwood  visited  Boston  at  some  point 
during  the  fall  of  1930 — at  just  about  the  time 
Ernest  Wilson  (who  had  succeeded  Sargent  as 
the  Arboretum's  director)  was  killed,  along 
with  his  wife,  in  an  automobile  mishap  on 
October  15.  Early  in  December,  McKelvey 
wrote  Eastwood  that  "I  cannot  remember 
whether  the  Wilson  accident  came  before  or 
after  you  were  here.  It  was  pretty  sad  busi- 
ness. The  work  has  been  apportioned  & goes 
on  well  however.  [I]t  is  always  a little  sad  to 
see  how  well  things  go  on  in  the  world  with- 
out any  one  individual  however  valuable." 


McKelvey  was  taking  courses  at  the  Gray 
Herbarium  at  the  time.  "The  lectures  are 
interesting,"  she  wrote  in  the  same  letter, 
we  are  at  the  Liliaceae  which  comes  near  my 
heart." 

McKelvey  had  become  very  fond  of  the 
Southwest  by  now.  The  cold  and  snow  of  that 
New  England  December  made  her  long  for 
Arizona.  But  she  would  have  had  difficulty 
moving  there.  "My  brother  [probably 
Moreau]  seems  awfully  loath  to  have  me 
think  of  living  in  the  West,"  she  confided  to 
Eastwood.  "It  rather  takes  the  heart  out  of  a 
possible  purchase  out  there  to  have  him  feel 
that  way  about  it."  Despite  the  impossibility 
of  moving  to  Arizona,  however,  McKelvey 
decided  at  about  this  time  that  she  would 
write  a book  on  the  yuccas  of  the  Southwest. 

She  was  beginning  to  receive  recognition 
for  her  botanical  work  and  in  1931  was  ap- 


Susan  McKelvey  and  Hamilton  pose  before  the  vehicle  that  took  them  to  several  states  in  the  Southwest  in  March,  April, 
and  May  1932.  The  trailer  on  the  right  holds  specimens  and  equipment.  They  are  shown  here  at  the  home  of  McKelvey' s 
brother  Moreau  Delano  in  Orange,  New  Jersey,  which  they  visited  en  route  to  Boston  on  June  1 1.  This  photograph  is  used 
through  the  courtesy  of  Jon  Katherine  McKelvey. 


Susan  Delano  McKelvey  19 


pointed  research  assistant  at  the  Arnold  Ar- 
boretum, a humble  post  she  would  hold  for 
many  years.  In  1932  Horticulture  published 
an  article  of  hers  on  pine  blister  rust,  and  in 
1932  the  Journal  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum 
published  one  on  the  taxonomic  and  cytologi- 
cal  relationships  of  Yucca  and  Agave  that  she 
had  written  in  collaboration  with  Professor 
Karl  Sax.  By  1 934  her  reputation  was  growing: 
John  Hendley  Barnhart  of  the  New  York  Bo- 
tanical Garden  wrote  to  request  personal  data 
about  her  for  his  biographical  card  catalog  of 
botanists,  for  example.  Articles  by  McKelvey 
appeared  in  the  National  Horticultural  Jour- 
nal and  the  Journal  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum 
in  1934  and  1935.  By  1936,  when  an  article  of 
hers  on  the  Arboretum  was  published  in  the 
Harvard  Alumni  Bulletin,  she  had  become  a 
staunch  partisan  of  the  institution  that  had 
helped  her  to  rebuild  her  life. 

From  1928  to  1936  Susan  McKelvey  would 
make  eight  trips  to  the  Southwest  (Arizona, 
Nevada,  New  Mexico,  Utah,  Colorado, 
Texas,  Oklahoma,  and  California).  Five 
trips — those  of  April  to  June  1929,  December 
1 929  to  April  1 930,  April  to  June  1 93 1 , March 
to  May  1932,  and  April  to  June  1934 — had 
been  for  the  sole  purpose  of  studying  Yucca 
and  allied  genera.  Hamilton  "made  a trip  to 
secure  important  material"  in  the  summer  of 
1935,  and  in  late  November  1935  through 
March  1936  McKelvey  and  her  brother 
Moreau,  by  now  an  invalid,  spent  the  winter 
near  Indio,  California.  "I  only  got  into  the 
field  when  (rare)  conditions  made  it  pos- 
sible," McKelvey  recorded  of  this  trip,  how- 
ever. During  those  years  she  collected  thou- 
sands of  specimens  of  Yucca,  pressing  them 
or  preserving  them  in  alcohol.  The  ever  faith- 
ful Hamilton  took  thousands  of  high-quality 
photographs  of  the  plants  and  landscapes  of 
the  Southwest  (they  are  now  in  the  Photogra- 
phy Archives  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum),  as 
well  as  participating  in  the  collecting  and 
doing  the  necessary  "heavy  work." 

The  trips  went  smoothly  for  the  most  part, 
although  one  (that  of  April  to  June  1934) 


began  most  inauspiciously.  On  the  evening  of 
April  3,  Hamilton,  driving  alone  from  Boston 
to  New  Mexico  as  usual,  was  held  up  and 
robbed  by  two  bandits  in  El  Reno,  Oklahoma. 
Brandishing  a machine  gun,  they  forced  him 
off  the  road  and  took  his  watch,  seventy-five 
dollars  in  cash,  and  nine  bags  of  luggage  con- 
taining most  of  his  and  McKelvey's  clothes. 
Fortunately,  they  spared  the  microscopes  and 
other  equipment. 

In  December  1936  Moreau  Delano  died  in 
Boston,  leaving  McKelvey  free  to  devote  full 
time  to  her  book  on  the  yuccas.  She  worked 
on  it  through  most  of  1937,  and  by  mid- 1938 
the  first  volume  ( Yuccas  of  the  Southwestern 
United  States  Part  One ) came  off  the  press 
under  the  Arboretum's  imprint.  She  was  glad, 
"very  glad,"  when  Alice  Eastwood— then  in 
her  eightieth  year — gave  it  her  stamp  of  ap- 
proval. McKelvey  launched  immediately  into 
Part  Two,  but  its  publication  would  be  nine 
years  in  coming.  "I  am  indeed  fortunate  in 
having  an  interest,"  McKelvey  commented 
to  Eastwood,  "and  have  clung  to  that  through 
thick  & thin.  So  many  of  my  friends  seem  lost 
without  one." 

The  Great  Depression  was  in  full  sway  at 
the  time,  and  McKelvey's  cousin  Franklin 
was  President.  "You  evidently  do  not  care 
much  for  the  New  Deal!"  she  wrote  East- 
wood,  "&  wld  be  in  the  midst  of  Sympathisers 
in  this  section  of  the  country.  I sometimes 
wonder  whether  conservatives  are  wrong — 
whether  F.  D.  R.  may  not  go  down  in  history 
as  a saver  of  democracy?  In  the  midst  of  things 
perspective  is  impossible." 

A Second  Book,  a Second  War:  1938-1945 
Over  the  next  few  years  of  economic  depres- 
sion and  war  McKelvey  continued  her  yucca 
project.  At  some  point  she  transferred  her 
activities  from  the  Arboretum  in  Jamaica 
Plain  to  the  Botanical  Museum  in  Cambridge 
and  through  her  contacts  in  the  Southwest 
was  able  to  obtain  some  fine  specimens  of 
Indian  corn  for  the  Museum's  director,  Pro- 
fessor Paul  C.  Mangelsdorf.  By  the  spring  of 


20  Susan  Delano  McKelvey 


Mr.  Weeks  Asks  Himself  to  Tea 

When  Edward  Weeks,  who  for  many  years  was  editor  of  The  Atlantic  Monthly,  was  serving  on  the  Board 
of  Overseers  of  Harvard  University,  he  encountered  Susan  Delano  McKelvey  during  the  painful  and 
divisive  episode  called  “the  Arnold  Arboretum  controversy.”  The  following  excerpt  from  his  book 
Writers  and  Friends  (Little,  Brown,  1981)  demonstrates  the  strength  of  McKelvey’ s commitment  to  the 
institution  that  had  played  such  an  important  role  in  her  life,  as  well  as  her  commitment  to  its  founder, 
Charles  Sprague  Sargent.  The  excerpt  is  printed  here  through  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Weeks. 


Each  member  of  the  Board  is  assigned 
to  "oversee"  one  or  more  depart- 
ments of  the  University  and  to  file  an 
annual  report  on  their  condition.  In 
addition  he  serves  as  chairman  of  a 
Visiting  Committee,  composed  of 
eminent  authorities,  not  necessarily 
with  Harvard  affiliations,  who  survey 
a department  from  the  outside,  and 
who  meet  in  Boston  and  Cambridge 
at  least  once  a year  to  concert  their 
findings.  My  first  and  most  difficult 
assignment  was  the  Arnold  Arbore- 
tum, an  enclosure  of  trees  and  flower- 
ing shrubs  in  Jamaica  Plain  of  which 
by  deed  of  trust  the  University  was 
the  caretaker.  If  Harvard  was  found 
negligent,  the  Arboretum  would  re- 
vert to  the  City  of  Boston. 

Charles  Sprague  Sargent  had  been 
director  of  the  Arboretum  for  fifty- 
four  years,  and  it  was  he  who  made  it 
internationally  known:  the  park  grew 
from  125  to  265  acres  less  manicured 
but  not  much  less  renowned  than 
Kew  Gardens,-  a modern  herbarium 
was  built  and  a most  valuable  library 
of  nearly  50,000  volumes  and  22,000 
photographs  made  it  a center  for  re- 
search. On  Sargent's  death  in  1927  a 
memorial  fund  of  a million  dollars 
had  been  added  to  its  endowment. 
Then  came  the  Depression,  two  de- 
structive hurricanes,  and  the  short- 
age of  manpower  throughout  the  war, 
leaving  an  urgent  need  for  restora- 
tion. The  time  had  come  when  it  was 
necessary  to  renovate  some  of  the  old 
collections  and  to  initiate  new, 
extensive  plantings. 

I didnot  appreciate  this  nor  did  I ap- 
preciate the  rivalry  for  funds  between 
the  botanists  in  the  Arboretum  and 
the  biologists  in  Cambridge.  During 
[University  president  James  Bryant] 
Conant's  absence  two  distinguished 
biologists,  Drs.  Irving  W.  Bailey  and 
Paul  Mangelsdorf,  had  compiled  a re- 


port which  the  president  on  his  re- 
turn recommended  to  the  Overseers, 
saying  that  "for  once  I find  the  biolo- 
gists in  complete  agreement."  It 
seemed  to  me  that  its  main  plea  was 
for  a new  building  in  Cambridge,  and 
with  the  others  I voted  for  its  adop- 
tion. 

The  Visiting  Committee  of  the  Ar- 
boretum was  composed  of  twenty- 
two  members,  including  Henry  F. 
du  Pont,  Childs  Frick,  John  Ames, 
Godfrey  Cabot,  Mrs.  Grenville  Clark, 
Mrs.  George  Agassiz,  Mrs.  Frank 
Crowninshield,  Mrs.  Delano  Mc- 
Kelvey, some  wealthy,  each  expert  in 
horticulture.  I do  not  have  a green 
thumb,  and  while  I worship  trees,  I 
knew  I was  out  of  my  depth  at  the 
luncheon  I arranged  for  the  group  at 
the  Harvard  Club  of  Boston.  But  I did 
not  anticipate  their  united  cold  front. 
The  following  week  I called  up  Mrs. 
McKelvey  and  invited  myself  to  tea. 
I knew  she  liked  fly  fishing,  and  after 
a few  words  about  Kennebago  [the 
area  of  northwestern  Maine  where 
McKelvey  was  spending  her  sum- 
mers] I took  the  plunge. 

"What  went  wrong  at  our  lunch- 
eon? Why  were  you  all  so  set  against 
me?"  I asked. 

"There  was  nothing  personal,"  she 
replied.  "But  you  must  have  read  the 
Bailey-Mangelsdorf  Report.  Don't 
you  realize  what  it  threatens  to  do  to 
the  Arboretum?  Many  of  us  on  the 
Committee  helped  to  raise  the  fund 
in  memory  of  Charles  Sargent.  Now, 
apparently  with  the  president's  ap- 
proval, we're  told  that  Harvard  pro- 
poses to  break  up  Sargent's  priceless 
library  and  to  spend  the  money  we 
gave,  not  to  revive  the  Arboretum  but 
for  a new  building  in  Cambridge.  It's 
outrageous!" 

As  I questioned  other  members  of 
the  Visiting  Committee,  I was  con- 


vinced that  this  was  a tempest  larger 
than  a teapot.  I warned  my  classmate, 
Keith  Kane,  who  was  a member  of  the 
Corporation  and  the  president's  as- 
sistant in  public  relations,  that  these 
people  were  really  up  in  arms.  Gren- 
ville Clark,  also  on  the  Corporation, 
at  his  wife's  persuasion,  had  changed 
his  vote;  so  did  I in  my  report  to  the 
Overseers,  and  Conant  dubbed  us 
"two-vote  men."  But  the  attitude 
which  prevailed  was,  in  the  words  of 
one  cynic  on  the  Corporation,  "Why 
shouldn't  we  skin  that  fat  cat?"  The 
Visiting  Committee  engaged  two  ca- 
pable lawyers,  Mike  Farley  and 
Robert  G.  Dodge,  to  resist  the  Report, 
and  the  conflict  dragged  on  for  years. 
The  University  finally  compromised: 
Sargent's  library  was  left  intact  and 
the  memorial  part  of  the  Arboretum 
endowment  was  not  spent  on  bricks 
and  mortar. 

I recall  this  episode  not  because  I 
like  to  criticize  my  alma  mater,  to 
whom  I owe  so  much.  Had  Conant 
not  been  distracted  by  the  war  his 
prudence  might  have  restrained  the 
biologists.  At  the  time  I speak  of,  the 
University  had  already  divested  itself 
of  two  "outlying  provinces"  for 
which  there  were  no  longer  sufficient 
academic  interest  or  funds — the 
Bussey  Institute  had  been  closed  and 
the  Gray  Herbarium  gone  to  seed.  In 
today's  pinching  economy  other  en- 
dowed institutions  will  have  to  di- 
vest themselves  of  provinces  they  can 
no  longer  afford,  and  will  do  so,  I 
hope,  without  infuriating  donors 
whose  intent  deserves  respect. 

The  remainder  of  my  term  was 
more  peaceful.  . . . 

— Excerpted  from  Writers  and  Friends,  by 

Edward  Weeks  ( Boston : Little,  Brown 

and  Company,  1981),  pages  140  and  141. 

Copyright  © 1981  by  Edward  Weeks. 

Used  with  the  permission  of  Edward 

Weeks. 


Susan  Delano  McKelvey  21 


1943  her  manuscript  was  ready  for  publica- 
tion, but  funding  was  unavailable  at  the 
Arboretum  because  of  the  war,  and  so  she  put 
the  manuscript  aside,  saw  to  it  that  all  loan 
specimens  were  returned  to  their  owners,  and 
waited  for  war's  end.  In  any  event,  she  was 
forced  to  vacate  the  space  in  the  Botanical 
Museum  by  the  Navy  in  mid- 1943. 

"At  the  moment  I am  working  at  home,  on 
a quite  different  subject . . . ,"  she  confided  to 
Mangelsdorf  in  March  1944.  "I've  no  idea 
when,  if  ever,  my  yucca  paper  will  be  pub- 
lished— it  was  handed  in  last  spring — and  to 
tell  you  the  truth  (except  that  I like  to  com- 
plete something  that  is  begun)  I'm  enjoying 
my  present  subject  much  more."  She  had 
begun  work  on  her  third  and  last  book,  a 
painstaking  account  of  botanical  exploration 
in  that  part  of  the  United  States  lying  west  of 
the  Mississippi  River.  "Now  I have  begun  on 
something  else  and  am  t hrilled  about  it,"  she 
informed  Alice  Eastwood.  "In  fact  so  inter- 
ested that  I wish  I had  begun  years  ago." 

Hamilton  was  a staff  sergeant  in  the  Army 
by  this  time,  connected  with  a medical  unit  in 
France.  "He  hope[s]  to  do  X-ray  work,"  Mc- 
Kelvey informed  Eastwood,  "but  whether  he 
does  that  now  or  other  things  I do  not  know,- 
he  is  not  a person  who  can  express  himself  in 
writing  very  well  and  his  letters  tell  next  to 
nothing.  He  did  write  last  that  the  mud  re- 
minded him  of  a day  in  Arizona  when  the 
mud  was  so  bad  that  it  removed  one  of  my 
shoes." 

Crowning  Achievement,  Crowning  Irony: 
1945-1956 

The  enterprise  on  which  McKelvey  had 
embarked  in  1944  would  materialize  in  the 
publication  in  1956  of  her  third  and  final 
book,  the  classic  Botanical  Exploration  of  the 
Trans-Mississippi  West  1790-1850.  It  would 
be  a natural  outgrowth  of  her  years  of  work  in 
the  American  Southwest  on  the  genus  Yucca. 
McKelvey  was  done  with  the  massive  (1,853- 
page)  manuscript  by  late  1 95 1 or  early  1 952,  at 
which  time  she  submitted  it  to  Harvard 


University  Press  for  publication  (the  Arnold 
Arboretum  was  to  underwrite  its  publication 
costs).  The  Press  rejected  it,  however,  and  she 
sought  help  and  advice  from  Professor  Karl 
Sax,  the  Arboretum's  director,  and  from 
Walter  Muir  Whitehill,  librarian  of  the  Bos- 
ton Athenaeum.  Whitehill  put  her  in  touch 
with  Frederick  W.  Anthoensen,  owner  of  the 
Anthoensen  Press  in  Portland,  Maine,  who 
agreed  to  publish  the  book.  On  Whitehill's 
recommendation  she  secured  the  services  of 
Harvard  Professor  Erwin  Raisz,  a skilled  car- 
tographer who  created  exquisitely  calligra- 
phed  maps  to  accompany  her  text.  Eventu- 
ally, Professor  Richard  A.  Howard,  Sax's  suc- 
cessor as  director  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum, 
assisted  McKelvey  during  the  final  stages  of 
publication  and  in  publicizing  the  book. 
Though  dated  1 955  on  its  title  page,  the  beau- 
tifully printed  book  actually  was  not  issued 
until  March  1956. 

It  received  excellent  reviews.  In  Rhodora, 
Joseph  Ewan  of  Tulane  University,  an  author- 
ity on  the  history  of  botany,  dubbed  it  "this 
book-of-a-century."  "Only  one  book  of  its 
kind  is  expected  in  a century,"  he  wrote 
elsewhere.  For  it  and  her  other  botanical  and 
horticultural  writings  McKelvey  received  a 
gold  medal  from  the  Massachusetts  Horticul- 
tural Society  and  the  Sara  Gildersleeve  Fife 
Memorial  Award  from  the  New  York  Botani- 
cal Garden. 

The  years  were  years  of  controversy  as 
well.  It  was  during  this  period  that  the  Arnold 
Arboretum  controversy  occurred.  McKelvey, 
who  owed  much  to  Charles  Sprague  Sargent 
and  the  Arnold  Arboretum  and  who  had  been 
a member  of  Harvard's  Committee  to  Visit 
the  Arnold  Arboretum  since  1928,  played  a 
leading  role  in  opposing  the  Bailey  Plan 
(1945),  which  would  divert  Arboretum  funds 
to  uses  that  she  considered  to  be  inconsistent 
with  the  purposes  for  which  the  funds  origi- 
nally had  been  given.  The  facts  of  the  contro- 
versy are  far  too  complicated — indeed,  far  too 
controversial — to  be  rehearsed  here,-  what  is 
important  in  the  present  context,  perhaps,  are 


22  Susan  Delano  McKelvey 


McKelvey's  reasons  for  taking  the  position 
she  did.  In  her  own  words,  written  in  1949, 
she  stated  that 

Because  of  my  long  association  with  the  Ar- 
nold Arboretum,  because  of  my  loyalty  to 
and  admiration  for  its  purposes  as  they  were 
expressed  and  executed  by  Professor  Sargent, 
and  because  of  my  small  part  (on  the  Boston 
Committee)  and  the  far  larger  part  of  my 
brother  [Moreau]  (on  the  New  York 
Committee)  in  helping  to  raise  the  Sargent 
Memorial  Fund,  I am  concerned  to  see  that 
the  interests  of  the  Arboretum  and  the  intent 
of  the  contributors  to  the  Memorial  Fund — 
are  protected  in  the  contemplated  move  to 
Cambridge. 

Edward  Weeks,  former  editor  of  The  Atlan- 
tic Monthly,  was  a member  of  the  Arbore- 
tum's Visiting  Committee  when  the  contro- 
versy erupted.  Recently,  in  his  book  Writers 
and  Friends,  he  describes  his  involvement  in 
the  controversy.  With  his  permission  we 
reprint  on  page  20  Mr.  Weeks's  account  of  a 
visit  he  paid  to  the  home  of  the  redoubtable 
Mrs.  McKelvey. 

The  Final  Years:  1956-1964 
With  the  publication  of  her  third  and  last 
book  in  1956,  McKelvey,  now  seventy-three 
years  of  age,  immediately  began  drafting  her 
will.  The  first  step  was  to  make  an  inventory 
of  her  botanical  legacy  of  books,  letters,  rec- 
ords, photographs,  and  preserved  specimens, 
some  of  which  were  in  her  home,  some  of 
which  were  in  the  Botanical  Museum  in 
Cambridge.  The  Museum's  director,  Profes- 
sor Paul  C.  Mangelsdorf,  considered  her  col- 
lection of  yuccas  and  related  plants  to  be  "the 
most  extensive  collection  of  its  kind  ever 
made  and  [to  be]  quite  valuable."  Her  first 
thought  was  to  leave  the  materials  to  the 
Museum,  but  after  consultation  with  various 
faculty  and  staff  members  of  both  the  Botani- 
cal Museum  and  the  Arnold  Arboretum — 
who  agreed  that  the  materials  indeed  were 
valuable  and  urged  that  they  remain  together, 


but  considered  them  to  be  more  valuable  in 
plant  taxonomy  than  in  economic  botany — 
she  stipulated  in  her  will  (dated  July  5,  1960) 
that  all  of  her  "books,  pamphlets,  notes,  rec- 
ords, photographs,  and  photographic  films, 
and  miscellaneous  articles  in  the  field  of 
botany"  be  given  to  the  Arnold  Arboretum 
upon  her  death.  She  did  not  forget  Whitehill's 
Athenaeum  in  her  will,  or  Oscar  Edward 
Hamilton— "formerly  in  my  employ,  whose 
present  address  is  Blairsden,  California." 

In  June  of  1964,  Professor  Richard  A. 
Howard,  the  Arboretum's  director,  received 
from  Mrs.  McKelvey  a letter  requesting  her 
retirement  from  the  Committee  to  Visit  the 
Arnold  Arboretum,  on  which  she  had  served 
since  1928,  and  from  her  appointment  as  Re- 
search Associate,  which  she  had  held  since 
1931.  McKelvey  explained  that  she  could  no 
longer  do  the  things  she  used  to  do  and 
wanted  to  make  way  for  someone  more  active 
in  both  of  the  roles  she  cherished.  A month 
later,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-one,  she 
died  at  Phillips  House  in  Boston. 

Few  individuals  have  been  affiliated  with 
the  Arnold  Arboretum  as  long  as  Susan  Mc- 
Kelvey was,  and  few  have  done  as  much  for  it, 
in  so  many  ways,  as  she  did.  If  she  was  its 
benefactor  and  champion,  however,  it  was 
her  godsend.  The  Arnold  Arboretum  has 
never  meant  as  much  to  anyone  else — in  so 
many  ways — as  it  meant  to  Susan  Adams 
Delano  McKelvey,  nee  Susan  Magoun  De- 
lano. In  redeeming  her  life  it  became  her  life. 

A Bibliography  of  Susan  Delano  McKelvey 

Syringa  rugulosa,  a new  species  from  western  China. 

Journal  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum,  Volume  6, 
Number  3 (July  1925),  pages  153  and  154. 

A new  hybrid  lilac.  Horticulture,  Volume  5,  Number  15 
(August  1,  1927),  page  302. 

The  Lilac:  A Monograph.  New  York:  Macmillan  Com- 
pany, 1928.  xvi  + 581  pages. 

A white  pine  blister  rust  demonstraton.  Horticulture, 
Volume  10,  Number  18  (September  15,  1932), 
page  33 1 . 

Taxonomic  and  cytological  relationships  of  Yucca  and 
Agave.  Journal  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum, 
Volume  14,  Number  1 (January  1933),  pages  76 


Susan  Delano  McKelvey  23 


to  81.  (Written  with  Professor  Karl  Sax.) 

Arctomecon  califoinicum.  National  Horticultural 
Magazine,  Volume  13,  Number  4 (October 
1934),  pages  349  and  350. 

A verification  of  the  occurrence  of  Yucca  Whipplei  in 
Arizona.  Journal  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum, 
Volume  15,  Number  4 (Octoberl934),  pages 
350  to  352. 

Notes  on  Yucca.  Journal  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum, 
Volume  16,  Number  2 (April  1935),  pages  268 
to  271. 

The  Arnold  Arboretum.  Harvard  Alumni  Bulletin, 
Volume  38,  Number  15  (January  17,  1936), 
pages  464  to  472. 

Yuccas  of  the  Southwestern  United  States.  Part  One. 

Jamaica  Plain,  Massachusetts:  Arnold  Arbore- 
tum, 1938.  150  pages. 

Yuccas  of  the  Southwestern  United  States.  Part  Two. 

Jamaica  Plain,  Massachusetts:  Arnold  Arbore- 
tum, 1947.  192  pages. 

A new  Agave  from  Arizona.  Journal  of  the  Arnold 
Arboretum,  Volume30,  Number3  (July  1949), 
pages  227  to  230. 

Botanical  Exploration  of  the  Trans-Mississippi  West, 
1790-1850.  Jamaica  Plain,  Massachusetts: 
Arnold  Arboretum,  1955  [1956].  xl  + 1144 
pages. 

A discussion  of  the  Pacific  Railroad  report  as  issued  in 
the  quarto  edition.  Journal  of  the  Arnold  Ar- 
boretum, Volume  40,  Number  1 (January 
1959),  pages  38  to  67. 


A Note  on  Sources 

Susan  Delano  McKelvey's  life  has  been  reconstructed 
from  manuscript  and  published  sources  in  the  Archives 
of  the  Arnold  Arboretum,  the  Harvard  University  Ar- 
chives, the  Suffolk  County  [Massachusetts]  Court- 
house, Bryn  Mawr  College,  the  Hunt  Institute  for  Bo- 
tanical Documentation  of  Camegie-Mellon  University, 
the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society,  the  New  York 
Botanical  Garden,  the  California  Academy  of  Sciences, 
the  New  England  Historic  Genealogical  Society,  and  the 


Massachusetts  Historical  Society.  Articles  in  the  New 
York  Times  and  clippings  from  other,  unidentified  New 
York  newspapers  supplied  some  details,  as  did  Richard 
A.  Howard's  reminiscence  of  Mrs.  McKelvey  in  the 
Journal  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum  (Volume  46,  Number 
1 [January  1965],  pages  45-47).  An  interview  with  Alfred 
J.  Fordham  yielded  valuable  details  about  Mrs.  Mc- 
Kelvey and  O.  E.  Hamilton.  The  National  Academy  of 
Design  kindly  supplied  a photographic  print  of  Dunbar 
Beck's  portrait  of  William  Adams  Delano.  Among  the 
materials  in  the  Archives  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum  that 
were  used  are  McKelvey's  field  notebooks,  photographs, 
photographic  logs,  correspondence,  manuscripts,  and 
maps.  Her  preserved  plant  specimens  are  in  the  Arbore- 
tum's herbarium. 

Acknowledgments 

Sheila  Connor,  Carin  B.  Dohlman,  Alfred  J.  Fordham, 
Richard  A.  Howard,  Jon  Perry,  and  Stephen  A.  Spongberg 
of  the  Arnold  Arboretum  supplied  much  valuable  infor- 
mation and  advice.  John  M.  Woolsey,  Jr.,  Esq.,  of  Boston 
provided  both  personal  reminiscences  of  Mrs.  McKelvey 
and  biographical  notices  of  William  Adams  Delano, 
Moreau  Delano,  and  Charles  Wylie  McKelvey.  Jon  Kath- 
erine McKelvey  of  Nuevo  Leon,  Mexico,  supplied  four 
photographs  and  a personal  reminiscence  of  Susan 
McKelvey.  Bmce  Bartholomew  of  the  California  Acad- 
emy of  Sciences  photocopied — without  complaint — 
more  than  two  dozen  letters  from  the  correspondence  of 
Alice  Eastwood  and  granted  permission  to  quote  from 
them.  Susan  Fraser  of  the  New  York  Botanical  Garden, 
Catherine  S.  Craven  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society,  Anita  L.  Karg  of  the  Hunt  Institute  for  Botanical 
Documentation,  and  Teresa  R.  Taylor  of  Bryn  Mawr 
College  responded  to  inquiries  about  materials  held  by 
their  institutions.  Freek  Vrugtman  of  the  Royal  Botani- 
cal Gardens,  Hamilton,  Ontario,  forwarded  copies  of 
several  items  relating  to  Mrs.  McKelvey  in  the  Gardens's 
library.  David  Walsh  Markstein  of  the  National  Acad- 
emy of  Design,  New  York,  expedited  a request  for  a copy 
of  Dunbar  Beck's  portrait  of  William  Adams  Delano. 
Edward  Weeks,  on  exceedingly  short  notice,  willingly 
and  graciously  permitted  use  of  material  on  Mrs.  Mc- 
Kelvey from  his  book  Writers  and  Friends.  My  sincere 
thanks  to  each  and  every  one  of  them! 


Kirk  Boott  and  the  Greening  of  Boston,  1783-1845 


Alan  Emmet 


Despite  travail,  despite  tragedy,  Kirk  Boott  and  his  family  contributed  much  to 
the  early  years  of  horticulture  and  botany  in  the  metropolis  of  New  England 


A love  for  growing  plants  seemed  to  run  in  the 
Boott  family.  Kirk  Boott  (1755-1817),  his  fa- 
ther before  him,  and  his  several  sons  after 
him,  had  a passion  for  plants,  expressed  either 
through  horticulture  or  botany.  In  their 
widely  differing  lives,  lives  which  included 
important  accomplishments  as  well  as  bleak 
tragedy,  this  was  one  linking  strand. 

Members  of  the  Boott  family  shared  an- 
other bias.  Even  those  whose  earliest  years 
were  spent  in  Boston  felt  a strong  cultural  and 
familial  bond  with  England,  the  land  from 
which  their  parents  had  come.  Indeed,  two 
sons,  when  grown,  moved  permanently  to 
England. 

In  the  middle  of  the  Eighteenth  Century, 
one  Francis  Boott  owned  and  operated  a mar- 
ket garden  in  the  town  of  Derby  in  the  English 
Midlands.  For  about  twenty-five  years — the 
whole  of  his  adult  life — he  and  his  wife  and 
their  children  worked  together  on  this  shared 
enterprise.  Francis's  sons  worked  with  him 
on  a couple  of  acres  at  the  edge  of  town,  where 
they  raised  vegetables  and  young  hawthorn 
plants  for  hedges.  One  son,  Kirk,  recalled 
rising  early  to  bunch  radishes  (three  bunches 
for  a penny)  and  bouncing  along  in  the  cab- 
bage cart  behind  "Old  Jack,"  their  horse.1 
They  took  the  vegetables  to  be  sold  by  Mrs. 
Boott  and  her  daughters  from  a shop  at  the 
front  of  the  family's  house.  The  shop  pros- 
pered and  earned  for  the  Bootts  the  respect  of 
the  denizens  of  Derby,  even  those  "far  higher 
in  station  and  fortune."2 


Francis  lived  only  to  the  age  of  forty-four. 
After  he  died  in  1776,  his  five  sons  scattered 
to  seek  their  fortunes  elsewhere.  Their  wid- 
owed mother  and  two  sisters  remained  in  the 
narrow  little  house  in  Derby,  dependent 
thereafter  on  the  young  men  to  send  money 
home. 

One  of  Francis's  sons  found  a position  as 
gardener  on  an  estate,  where  he  had  three  men 
under  him.3  The  second  son,  Kirk,  left  home 
for  London  in  1783,  when  he  was  twenty- 
seven.  He  found  work  as  a porter  in  a ware- 
house but  aimed  higher.  To  improve  his 
image  and  his  chances,  he  went  to  a 
fashionable  friseur  for  a powdered  wig.4  To 
his  sister  he  wrote,  "[F]rom  small  beginnings 
I shall  rise  to  be  a Merchant,  and  traverse  the 
Ocean  to  distant  shores,  with  the  merchan- 
dise of  Britain,  and  at  last  come  [home]  to 
Derby.  . . ."5  Within  five  months  of  leaving 
home,  Kirk  had  arranged  for  passage  aboard 
the  Rosamond  to  Boston. 

Kirk  found  people  to  back  his  venture. 
Friends  paid  for  his  trans-Atlantic  passage 
and  furnished  him  with  goods  so  that  he  could 
open  a shop  when  he  arrived,  gambling  on  his 
success  to  recoup  their  investments.  The 
diverse  shop  merchandise  that  Kirk  took  with 
him  included  hats,  nails,  and  barrels  of  garden 
seeds. 

When  he  landed  in  June  1783,  Kirk  Boott 
found  Boston  so  green  and  beautiful  that  he 
lamented  England's  so  recent  loss  of  this 
country.  His  first  letter  home  sounds  like  a 


The  Boott  Family  25 


market  gardener's  son  writing: 

Peas  have  been  in  a week  or  more  and  now 
sold  at  4/6  sterling  per  peck.  I took  a walk  in 
the  garden  belonging  to  my  Lodging  House, 
and  saw  Kidney  Beans  one  foot  high  and  cu- 
cumbers more  than  that  long.  They  are  for- 
warder than  with  us.  I have  made  some 
enquiry  after  gardening,  but  can  get  very 
undifferent  accounts.  The  gardeners  are 
slovens  and  idle.6 

His  initial  optimism  waned  quickly.  The 
American  economy  was  in  a shambles  after 
the  Revolutionary  War,  and  Boott's  business 
went  very  badly  at  first.  His  merchandise 
seemed  all  wrong.  He  wrote  his  sister  that  he 
rued  the  day  he  had  forsaken  the  simple  life  of 
a market  gardener  in  Derby.  In  time,  how- 


The  Boott  house  in  Derby,  England,  with  the  greengro- 
cer shop  at  the  front.  (The  spots  are  in  the  original.) 
Courtesy  of  Bradley  R.  Parker. 


ever,  his  straightforward  business  ethic — to 
sell  better  goods  at  lower  prices  than  his  com- 
petitors—enabled  him  to  become  estab- 
lished. He  repaid  his  debts,  began  sending 
money  home,  and  was  soon  well  on  the  way 
to  success  and  prosperity. 

Boott  soon  threw  away  his  powdered  pig- 
tail in  order  to  become  more  American  in  ap- 
pearance. American  women,  however,  held 
little  appeal  for  him.  But  no  matter.  He  soon 
lost  his  heart  to  another  newly  arrived  Eng- 
lish emigree,  Mary  Love,  whose  father  was 
captain  of  the  ship  that  had  brought  Boott  to 
Boston.  They  were  married  in  1785. 

Kirk  Boott  was  an  urban  man.  Although  his 
youth  had  been  spent  working  the  soil,  his 
boyhood  home  and  his  family's  existence  had 
centered  on  selling  produce  in  the  center  of 
town.  When  he  came  to  the  United  States,  the 
town  life  of  a merchant  was  Boott's  goal.  An 
early  foray  into  the  hinterland,  as  far  as  south- 
ern New  Hampshire,  persuaded  him  that 
rural  New  England  was  rocky,  densely 
wooded,  and  far  less  beautiful  than  Old  Eng- 
land. When  he  was  financially  able  to  build  a 
fine  house  for  his  family,  a site  in  town  near 
his  place  of  business  was  his  obvious  choice. 

During  Kirk  Boott's  lifetime  American  cit- 
ies began  the  increase  in  density  and  in  area 
that  so  changed  this  country.  Kirk's  attach- 
ment to  urban  life  was  tempered  by  ambiva- 
lence. He  apparently  believed  that  regular  es- 
cape from  the  city  was  necessary  for  one's 
physical  and  mental  well-being.  He  bought 
himself  a horse  and  rode  a few  miles  into  the 
country  every  morning  before  seven.  Repeat- 
edly, he  expressed  the  regret  that  he  had  not 
explored  "the  grand,  bold,  and  picturesque 
scenery  with  which  this  country  abounds," 
but  somehow  he  was  always  too  busy  to 
travel,  except  in  winter,  when  it  was  too  cold, 
or  in  summer,  when  it  was  too  hot.7 

In  1795,  Kirk  wrote  his  sister  that  "Mr. 
Theodore  Lyman,  a worthy  friend  of  ours,  has 
lately  bought  a Farm.  He  seems  to  take  much 
pleasure  in  it."8  Boott  had  collaborated  with 
Lyman  in  such  mercantile  adventures  as 


26  The  Boott  Family 


sending  a ship  to  the  Pacific  Northwest  in 
quest  of  furs.  The  Lyman  estate,  "The  Vale," 
in  Waltham,  not  far  from  Boston,  was  one  of 
the  first  places  in  Boston  to  be  laid  out  in  the 
informal  English  landscape  style,  following 
the  precepts  of  designer  Humphry  Repton. 
Theodore  Lyman  had  greenhouses  and  a high 
brick  wall  to  hasten  the  ripening  of  the 
peaches  espaliered  against  it.  Kirk  Boott, 
perambulating  Lyman's  acres,  may  have 
wondered  briefly  whether  he,  too,  should 
establish  his  family  in  a country  seat. 

When  yellow  fever  struck  Boston  in  1798, 
all  who  could  fled  the  city.  The  sparsely 
settled  countryside  was  generally  viewed  as  a 
healthier  environment  than  the  city.  Lyman 
urged  Boott  to  escape  from  the  unwholesome 
city,  even  offering  to  provide  a house  for  the 
family,  and  to  send  a team  of  oxen  to  bring 


them  to  Waltham.  Boott  turned  down 
Lyman's  offer,  but  after  listening  day  and 
night  to  the  sound  of  hammer  and  saw  at  a 
nearby  coffinmaker's  shop,  he  closed  his  store 
and  left  Boston — by  then  nearly  a ghost 
town — until  the  epidemic  had  waned.  The 
Bootts  rented  quarters  in  outlying  Water- 
town,  Theodore  Lyman  generously  supplying 
them  with  produce  and  cider.9 

A Mansion  and  a Garden 

By  1802  Kirk  Boott  was  at  the  height  of  his 
prosperity.  Neither  he  nor  anyone  else  fore- 
saw the  trade  embargo  that  would  punish 
American  business  so  severely  a few  years 
later.  Confident  of  his  continuing  financial 
success,  Kirk  decided  to  build  a townhouse  for 
himself  and  his  family.  His  wife  worried 
about  the  expense,  but  Kirk  thanked  God  that 


The  rear  of  the  Boott  mansion,  Bowdoin  Square,  Boston,  showing  the  lean-to  greenhouse,  with  hotbeds  below  it,  and 
trellises  for  plants  along  the  brick  walls  of  the  house.  This  engraving  was  made  between  1840  and  1847  by  an  unknown 
artist.  Courtesy  of  the  Boston  Athenaeum. 


The  Boott  Family  11 


he  was  "enabled  to  provide  liberally  for  [his 
family's]  wants."10 

The  half-acre  site  of  Boott's  brick  house 
was  a pasture  in  Boston's  West  End,  an  area 
which  was  just  then  beginning  to  be  devel- 
oped.11 Charles  Bulfinch,  Boston's  leading 
architect,  may  have  been  the  designer  of 
Boott's  three-story  Federal  mansion,  with  its 
tall,  Palladian  windows  lighting  the  stair- 
case.12 Kirk's  oldest  son,  Wright,  just  home 
from  school  in  England,  described  the  new 
house  in  1805  as  "larger  than  I expected,  and 
as  much  handsomer.  The  doors  on  the  first 
floor  are  all  Mahogany  and  so  highly  polished 
as  to  make  the  furniture  look  ordinary."13 
Soon,  according  to  Wright,  his  father  was 
buying  new  mahogany  furniture,  Turkish 
carpets,  and  a stock  of  wine. 

Kirk  Boott  joined  other  fashionable  Bosto- 
nians in  having  Gilbert  Stuart  paint  his  por- 
trait. Boott  and  his  family  mingled  socially 
with  Boston's  leading  families.  Gardiner 
Greene's  nearby  townhouse,  set  amidst 
elaborate  terraced  gardens,  was  one  to  which 
the  Bootts  were  often  invited.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Boott  reciprocated  with  a cotillion  in  their 
own  gleaming  mansion. 

Attached  to  Kirk  Boott's  new  house  was 
one  feature  that  may  have  meant  more  to  him 
than  any  other:  a greenhouse.  Having  been 
raised  as  a gardener,  one  aspect  of  English  life 
that  Boott  missed  particularly  was  the  long 
growing  season.  As  he  wrote  in  1804,  "from 
the  severity  of  the  winter,  no  garden  seeds 
could  be  put  into  the  ground  before  April."14 
Inside  his  own  greenhouse,  Boott  could  feel 
that  he  had  defeated  winter. 

Boott  had  had  a garden  almost  ever  since  he 
first  landed  in  Boston.  Each  year  he  raised  all 
the  vegetables  his  family  could  eat,  and  some 
for  the  neighbors.  He  once  boasted  that  "I 
have  not  had  occasion  to  buy  a cucumber  or 
onion  this  year,  and  Mary  has  had  a fine  show 
of  annual  flowers,  Balsam,  China  Asters, 
etc.  . . ,"15  He  had  his  sister  send  him  some 
gooseberry  bushes,  a fruit  he  missed.  They 
were  not  a success.  He  also  had  her  send  vege- 


table seeds  from  England,  specifying  such 
favorites  as  "the  best  green,  purple,  and  white 
Brocolli."16 

His  new  greenhouse  flourished  during  its 
first  season.  In  December  1805,  he  wrote  that 
he  had  "Roses,  Jassamines,  Geraniums,  and 
stocks  in  blow  [bloom],"  and  that  bulbs  sent 
to  him  by  an  English  gardening  friend  were  al- 
ready "shooting  above  the  earth."17  Boott 
knew  nonetheless  that 

ere  January  shall  be  passed  Jack  Frost  will 
give  us  trouble  eno'  to  resist.  If  this  bold 
intruder  can  be  kept  out,  I promise  myself 
much  pleasure  [in  the  greenhouse]  during 
. . . Feb'y,  March,  and  April,  at  which  time 
we  have  but  little  vegetation.  I have  taken 
great  pains  to  keep  Lettuce  alive  thro'  the 
winter.  . . . 

By  April,  sure  enough,  "Winter  yet  bears 
sway,"  he  wrote,  but  happily, 

my  Greenhouse  has  flourished  beyond  my 
expectation,  and  what  pleases  me  much,  I 
have  found  my  skill  equal  to  the  care  of  it. 
Lettuces  in  abundance  I have  preserved,  and 
have  had  fine  Sallads  thro'  the  Winter.  Yes- 
terday I gathered  about  a Bushel  and  gave  it 
to  my  friends.18 

Lettuce  was  equal  in  importance  to  flowers 
in  Kirk  Boott's  greenhouse;  he  knew  his 
family's  health  depended  on  it. 

Boott  kept  a cow  on  his  small  lot  of  land, 
but  every  remaining  square  foot  was  used  for 
his  garden.  His  1809  description  reveals  as 
much  about  the  gardener  as  the  garden: 

Our  chief  pleasure  is  in  our  family,  and 
among  our  flowering  plants.  Flora  has 
decked  our  parlour  windows  for  four  months 
past  in  the  most  gay  and  beautiful  manner. 
She  is  now  about  transferring  her  beauties  to 
the  open  garden.  I have  more  than  one 
hundred  Rosetrees  of  the  best  kinds  just 
bursting  into  bloom,  from  the  moss  down  to 
the  Scotch  Mountain — the  cluster  Monthly 
red,  the  Cabbage  province,  pompon  De 
Meaux,  Burgundy,  Blandford,  Violet,  White 
musk,  etc.,  etc. 

From  the  first  dawn  of  vegetation  I have  a 


28  The  Boott  Family 


succession  of  flowers,  the  modest  snowdrop, 
the  golden  Crocus,  Daffodils,  Narcissus, 
Hyacinths,  Cowslips,  Tulips  etc.  Those 
from  Derby  never  blow  but  with  the  most 
pleasing  association  of  ideas.  The  common 
weeds  of  my  garden  are  the  greenhouse  Gera- 
niums, Balsams,  Coxcombs,  Botany-Bay 
Xeranthemums,  Mignonette,  etc.  and  yet  a 
common  observer  would  think  there  was 
hardly  anything  worth  looking  at. 

The  Hawthorne — the  White  Hawthorne  is 
now  in  full  bloom.19 

Boott  had  his  oldest  son  write  to  gardening 
friends  in  Derby  for  more  English  flowers, 
London  Pride  and  "Bird's  Eye"  [?],  since 
"there  are  none  in  the  country  hereabouts. 
Daisies  are  such  a rarity  that  they  are  kept  in 
greenhouses,  as  well  as  Cowslips."20  Even  to 
their  taste  in  wildflowers,  the  Bootts  were  an- 
glophiles. 

One  son,  Francis,  reminisced  years  later  on 
his  father's  devotion  to  gardening: 

He  was  often  in  his  Garden  and  about  his 
frames  by  four  o'clock,  and  I love  to  believe 
that  my  fondness  for  plants  was  caught  from 
him.  . . . [His  garden]  had  no  ostentation 
about  it,  and  the  familiar  "weeds"  . . . were 
his  delight.  His  roses,  stocks,  Persian  Iris, 
and  Lily  of  the  Valley  were  the  pride  of  his 
Garden,  as  the  Heath  and  Geraniums  were  of 
his  greenhouse.  His  salads  and  cucumbers 
were  the  height  of  his  pride  as  a vegetable 
grower.  . . .21 

These  accounts  are  all  that  is  known  of 
Kirk  Boott's  garden.  But  a hundred  "Rose- 
trees"!  They  must  have  occupied  most  of  the 
garden,  with  spring  bulbs  and  annuals  tucked 
in  around  them.  The  annuals  Boott  grew  had 
been  introduced  into  America  before  or  soon 
after  the  Revolution.  All  appear  on  the  plant 
lists  of  such  noted  American  gardeners  as 
George  Washington  and  Thomas  Jefferson. 
They,  too,  grew  lavateras,  or  tree  mallows, 
and  everlastings  (xeranthemums  and  cox- 
combs), which  hold  their  color  when  dried.22 
As  for  Boott's  roses,  most  were  many-petalled 
centifolias  and  damasks,  or  small-flowered 


varieties  such  as  the  fragrant  Scotch  ( Rosa 
spinosissima ).  The  pompon  rose  'de 
Meaux' — a small,  pink  cabbage  rose  painted 
by  Redoute — was  probably  one  of  Boott's 
newest  varieties,  having  made  its  first  Eng- 
lish appearance  at  Kew  Gardens  in  1789. 

Boott's  greenhouse  skills  are  apparent 
from  his  successes:  bulbs  forced  into  midwin- 
ter bloom,  and  roses  in  December.  The 
Palma-Christi  he  mentioned  was  the  tropical 
castor-bean  tree,  Ricinus  communis,  grown 
for  its  foliage.  Greenhouse  geraniums — actu- 
ally, pelargoniums — were  imported  from 
southern  Africa  after  1750. 

The  greenhouse  itself  was  a long  lean-to, 
its  roof  only  partially  glazed.  Heat  was  sup- 
plied by  a wood  fire,  the  smoke  of  which  was 
conducted  through  a horizontal  brick  flue 
past  the  growing  benches,  to  a chimney  at  the 
far  end.  Theodore  Lyman's  first  greenhouse, 
one  of  the  oldest  survivors  in  this  country  and 
probably  built  not  long  before  Boott's,  can 
still  be  examined  at  The  Vale  in  suburban 
Waltham,  Massachusetts.  Boott  was  doubt- 
less inspired  by  Lyman's  example.  Gardiner 
Greene,  a friend  and  neighbor  of  Boott's,  had 
what  may  have  been  the  first  greenhouse  in 
Boston.  Kirk  Boott  had  also  seen  glasshouses 
in  England  in  his  youth.  While  helping  his 
brother  find  horticultural  employment  in 
1783,  Kirk  has  written  that  "amongst  profes- 
sional gardeners  no  place  is  esteemed  a good 
one  without  Hot  House  and  Green  House."23 
The  technology  of  horticulture  was  further 
advanced  in  England  than  in  the  United 
States,  but  by  1800  greenhouses  were  not 
uncommon  appurtenances  on  the  estates  of 
prosperous  New  England  gentlemen. 

Bernard  M'Mahon  published  the  first  edi- 
tion of  The  American  Gardener's  Calendar 
in  1806.  He  explained  the  differences  in  con- 
struction and  in  use  between  a greenhouse 
and  a hothouse.  The  former  has  only  enough 
artificial  heat  to  "keep  off  frost  and  dispel 
damps,"  while  the  latter  has  an  inside  stove 
and  more  glass.24  The  flowers  that  Boott  grew 
would  suggest  that  his  was  actually  a hot- 


The  Boott  Family  29 


The  earliest  greenhouse  at  “The  Vale,"  Theodore  Ly- 
man’s estate  in  Waltham,  Massachusetts,  probably  dat- 
ing from  1804.  This  photograph  shows  the  firebox  and 
the  horizontal  flue  for  heating.  Kirk  Boott's  greenhouse 
probably  was  quite  similar.  Courtesy  of  The  Society  for 
the  Preservation  of  New  England  Antiquities. 

house.  Always  a little  homesick  for  England, 
loathing  the  long  New  England  winters,  Boott 
created  his  own  artificial  climate. 

Kirk  Boott  and  his  wife  made  their  long- 
delayed  American  sightseeing  trip  in  1812. 
They  were  particularly  enthralled  by  the 
scenery  of  the  Hudson  River  valley.  The  fields 
of  wild  buttercups  observed  from  the  boat 
reminded  Kirk  of  'The  dear  and  delightful 
meadows  of  England,"  the  highest  praise  he 
could  bestow.25 

Kirk  died  in  1817.  He  left  his  wife,  who 
survived  him  by  forty  years,  four  daughters, 
and  five  sons. 

The  Sons  of  Kirk  Boott 

Kirk  Boott  and  his  wife  set  a family  pattern 

when  they  enrolled  their  two  oldest  sons  in 


English  schools  in  1 799.  When  he  returned  to 
Boston  in  1805,  Wright,  the  oldest,  distressed 
his  father  by  refusing  to  go  to  college.  Kirk,  Jr., 
and  his  next-younger  brother,  Francis,  did 
attend  Harvard,  which  their  father  consid- 
ered the  best  place  for  them  to  receive  an 
American  education.  Neither  one  was  happy 
there.  Francis  graduated  in  1810,  but  Kirk,  Jr., 
left  without  a degree.  All  three  brothers  took 
a turn  helping  in  the  family  store,  but  only 
Wright  stayed  on  to  become  a partner. 

Wright  Boott  developed  an  enthusiasm  for 
exploring  New  England  and  beyond.  In  1806, 
when  he  was  seventeen,  he  journeyed  by 
carriage  into  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont, 
jolting  over  log  roads,  through  mud,  rocks, 
snow,  and  unending  forests.  "God  deliver  me 
from  such  a country,"  he  wrote.26  But  two 
years  later  he  and  a cousin  set  off  on  a longer 
trip,  to  Niagara  Falls,  Montreal,  and  Quebec. 

Wright's  travels  developed  a focus  after  his 
brother  Francis  returned  to  Boston  in  1814. 
After  four  years  of  study  in  England,  Francis 
had  devoted  himself  to  science,  particularly 
botany.  Back  in  Boston,  he  became  interested 
in  collecting  New  England  plants.  Dr.  Jacob 
Bigelow,  a young  professor  of  medicine  at 
Harvard,  shared  his  interests.  Botany  and 
medicine  were  viewed  as  closely  related  sci- 
ences. Bigelow  asked  Francis  Boott  to  help 
him  prepare  a comprehensive  work  on  the 
flora  of  New  England.27  To  that  end,  Bigelow, 
Francis  Boott,  and  three  others  explored  and 
collected  plants  in  the  mountains  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  New  Hampshire  in  the  summer 
of  1816.  On  the  summit  of  Mount  Washing- 
ton, the  men  left  their  names  in  a bottle. 
Their  names  have  been  more  permanently 
tagged  to  certain  topographic  features  of  the 
mountain— Boott  Spur  and  Bigelow's  Lawn. 
Francis  brought  his  brother  Wright  to  Mount 
Washington  the  following  month,  and 
Wright  himself  returned  on  several  botanical 
and  birding  expeditions.  In  1829,  Wright  dis- 
covered an  unknown  alpine  plant  that  was 
later  named  for  him:  Prenanthes  boottii,  rat- 
tlesnake root.28 


30  The  Boott  Family 


Francis  Boott  returned  to  England  in  1820, 
remaining  there  for  the  rest  of  his  life.  He 
studied  medicine,  earning  his  M.D.  at  Ed- 
inburgh in  1825,  and  practiced  in  London.  In 
1819,  he  was  made  a Fellow  of  the  Linnean 
Society  of  London.  Later,  he  served  as  Secre- 
tary of  the  Society,  where  his  portrait  now 
hangs.  In  1858,  he  published  the  first  of  four 
parts  of  a major  botanical  work  on  sedges — 
the  genus  Carex — for  which  he  is  still  known. 
Harvard  honored  Francis  Boott  in  1834  by  of- 
fering him  the  Professorship  of  Natural  His- 
tory, but  Boott  felt  he  could  not  accept,  since 
he  knew  only  botany,  and  not  other,  related 
disciplines  such  as  horticulture  and  zool- 
ogy.29 Francis  Boott  gave  his  herbarium  of 
White  Mountain  plants  to  Sir  William 
Jackson  Hooker,  the  Director  of  the  Royal 
Botanic  Gardens  at  Kew.  Hooker  named  a 
goldenrod  after  Francis  Boott,  whose  name  is 
attached  to  a sedge,  and  to  an  Asiatic  water 
plant,  Boottia  cordata. 

Having  introduced  Wright  to  botanical  ex- 
ploration and  study,  Francis  went  on  to  in- 
spire their  younger  brothers  James  and  Wil- 
liam to  follow  suit.  William  studied  medicine 
in  Paris  and  Dublin  and  gained  a reputation  as 
a botanist  himself.  After  Francis  died,  Wil- 
liam continued  to  work  on  sedges.  Boott's 
shield  fern,  Dryopteris  boottii,  was  named  for 
William. 

Of  the  five  brothers,  only  Kirk,  Jr.,  had 
little  active  interest  in  plants.  Instead,  he 
devoted  his  life  to  another  form  of  growth, 
that  of  the  Industrial  Revolution  in  America. 
As  agent  and  treasurer  of  a newly  formed  tex- 
tile corporation,  Merrimack  Manufacturing 
Company,  he  acted  as  organizer,  overseer, 
and  resident  autocrat  during  the  building  of 
the  mills,  the  canals,  the  housing,  and  the 
entire  urban  fabric  of  Lowell,  Massachusetts, 
this  country's  first  planned  industrial  city. 
The  white-columned  Greek  Revival  mansion 
he  built  there  for  himself  and  his  family  was 
surrounded  by  a garden  of  fruit  and  flowers. 

Wright,  James,  William,  and  Francis  were 
elected  to  membership  in  the  Boston  Society 


Dr.  Francis  Boott  of  London,  noted  physician  and  bota- 
nist. Photograph  courtesy  of  Bradley  R.  Parker. 


of  Natural  History  soon  after  its  founding  in 
1830.  Members  of  the  Society  were  all  proud 
amateurs  in  the  days  before  professionalism 
tarnished  the  amateur  image.  They  were 
committed  to  the  expansion  of  knowledge  for 
its  own  sake.  As  the  forerunner  of  Boston's 
Museum  of  Science,  the  Society  undertook  to 
educate  not  only  its  members,  but  the  general 
public  as  well.30 

Wright  Boott,  and  later  his  brother  Wil- 
liam, joined  another  important  new  organiza- 
tion for  sharing  and  spreading  knowledge,  the 
Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society,  estab- 
lished in  1829.  Both  the  Horticultural  and  the 
Natural  History  societies  drew  their  mem- 
bers from  the  Boston  intelligentsia  and  in- 
cluded many  of  the  Bootts's  neighbors, 
friends,  and  business  associates. 

Within  two  years  of  its  inception  the  Hor- 
ticultural Society  held  annual  shows  at 
which  members  exhibited  fruit,  flowers,  and 


The  Boott  Family  31 


greenhouse  plants.  At  the  1834  exhibit,  in 
Faneuil  Hall,  along  with  Joseph  Coolidge's 
pears  and  Judge  Lowell's  orange  trees,  were 
three  tropical  plants  from  the  collection  of  J. 
Wright  Boott,  Esq.:  Plumbago  capensis,  a 
blue-flowered  leadwort  from  southern  Africa,- 
Begonia  discolor,  a red-foliaged  import  from 
Asia  with  fragrant  pink  flowers;  and,  lastly,  a 
white-flowered  member  of  the  Amaryllis 
Family,  Pancratium,  described  at  the  time  as 
being  very  beautiful.31 

After  the  1834  show,  Wright  withdrew 
from  the  Horticultural  Society.  He  never 
exhibited  his  plants  again.  Someone  must 
have  offended  him  inadvertently.  He  had 
become  a moody,  difficult  man  of  marked  pe- 
culiarity.32 His  sister-in-law,  Mrs.  Kirk  Boott, 
Jr.,  was  the  only  Boott  to  enter  a subsequent 
Horticultural  Society  show.  According  to  the 
Society's  1837  Transactions  (page  42),  she 
submitted  a "curious  Cucumber"  eight  feet 
long.  "[I]ts  form  reminded  many  of  a serpent." 

After  his  father  died  in  1817,  Wright  began 
a gradual  retreat  from  business  and  society. 
Eventually  he  stopped  going  out  altogether, 
and  he  spoke  to  almost  no  one.  His  troubles 
apparently  began,  as  troubles  often  do,  with 
money  and  a will.  Wright  was  the  executor  of 
his  father's  will  and  was  responsible  for  sup- 
porting his  mother  in  the  family  mansion, 
hers  for  her  life.  He  was  also  obligated  to 
support  his  minor  siblings,  as  well  as  the  or- 
phaned children  of  a cousin.  Furthermore,  all 
of  Wright's  brothers  and  sisters  were  entitled 
to  equal  shares  of  the  residue  of  the  estate.33 
Unfortunately,  even  before  division,  the  fam- 
ily fortune  was  not  as  large  as  Kirk's  children 
had  believed  it  to  be.  In  a stagnant  economy, 
the  Bootts's  grand  lifestyle  had  drastically 
reduced  the  fortune  from  its  peak  at  the 
century's  start.  Even  by  1810,  Kirk,  Sr.,  had 
foreseen  that  "my  property  will  be  but  little 
for  each  when  it  comes  to  be  divided."34 

Wright's  brothers  joined  him  in  their  late 
father's  import  business  for  a few  years,  hop- 
ing in  vain  to  make  a go  of  it.  By  1822,  all  but 
Wright  had  withdrawn.  In  1826,  Wright  in- 


vested in  an  iron  foundry  started  by  two  of  his 
brothers-in-law.  Before  he  pulled  out  of  that 
disastrous  enterprise,  he  had  lost  a good  part 
of  his  own  and  his  siblings's  inheritance. 
They  later  reminded  him  of  this  with  some 
frequency.  From  then  on,  despite  efforts  by 
Kirk  to  give  him  an  important  role  in  the 
Lowell  textile  industry,  Wright  never  en- 
gaged in  business  again.  He  stayed  at  home 
with  his  mother,  and  worked  with  his  plants. 

Even  though  Wright  Boott  had  resigned 
from  the  Horticultural  Society,  his  rare  tropi- 
cal plants  and  his  success  at  coaxing  them 
into  bloom  caused  his  name  to  recur  often  in 
the  Society's  annals.  In  1837,  for  example,  it 
was  noted  that  Boott's  West  Indian  Cactus 
triangularis  had  blossomed  and  that  he  had 
imported  the  novel  Chorizema  henchmanni, 
an  Australian  evergreen  with  bright  red  flow- 
ers.35 He  became  known  for  imported  green- 
house plants,  particularly  orchids. 

His  plants  came  from  England.  The  Atlan- 
tic Ocean  was  not  too  wide  for  the  Bootts, 
brought  up  as  they  were  in  the  import  busi- 
ness and  having  maintained  close  ties  with 
their  English  relatives.  Wright  himself  trav- 
elled to  England  before  he  became  a recluse. 
His  brothers,  particularly  Francis,  knew  the 
leading  English  botanists  and  plantsmen  and 
could  easily  have  sent  or  brought  plants  to 
Wright  in  Boston. 

At  an  1874  meeting  of  the  Massachusetts 
Horticultural  Society,  Marshall  P.  Wilder,  a 
former  president  of  the  oganization  and  later 
its  historian,  reminisced  about  the  "exquisite 
manner  in  which  the  amaryllis  was  formerly 
cultivated  by  J.  W.  Boott  . . . who  received 
from  England  bulbs  of  new  and  rare  varieties 
worth  two  or  three  guineas  each."36  Wilder 
also  remembered  Boott's  as  the  only  orchid 
collection  in  the  country  in  the  early  1830s. 
"They  were  cultivated  in  an  ordinary  green- 
house, occasionally  closing  a door  for  tem- 
perature control,  and  grew  without  piling  up 
bricks  and  charcoal  about  the  stem."  In  his 
article  on  horticulture  in  Winsor's  1881  His- 
tory of  Boston,  Wilder  wrote  that  some  of 


32  The  Boott  Family 


Wright's  choicest  plants  had  been  obtained  by 
his  brother  Francis  from  the  Duke  of 
Bedford.37  The  Sixth  Duke  of  Bedford,  proprie- 
tor of  Woburn  Abbey  and  an  avid  naturalist 
and  botanist,  owned  the  Covent  Garden 
Market,  on  which  he  built  two  unique  roof- 
top conservatories  in  1827  where  plants  were 
grown,  shown,  and  sold  in  a stylish  setting.38 

Orchids  became  a refined  passion  for  many 
gardeners  as  the  Nineteenth  Century  pro- 
gressed, and  orchid  hunters  began  stripping 
them  from  their  native  habitats  to  meet  the 
demand.  Appalling  numbers  of  plants  gath- 
ered in  the  wild  succumbed  to  the  treatment 
they  received  from  unwitting  gardeners  who 
had  no  idea  how  to  care  for  them.  In  1790 
there  were  only  fifteen  species  at  the  Royal 
Botanic  Gardens  at  Kew,  but  by  1812  Lod- 
diges's  Nursery  near  London  was  propagating 
orchids  for  sale.39 

The  orchid  craze  came  later  to  the  United 
States.  In  1818,  Harvard's  Botanic  Garden 
listed  only  one  orchid,  Phaius  grandifolius,  or 
Bletia  tankervilleaz,  a terrestrial  orchid.  The 
plant  explorer  John  Fothergill  had  first 
brought  Phaius  grandifolius  to  England  from 
the  Far  East  in  1778.  This  may  have  been 
Wright  Boott's  first  orchid,  according  to  ac- 
counts by  Wilder  and  another  Horticultural 
Society  member,  Edward  S.  Rand,  Jr.40 

The  epiphytic  orchids  were  more  difficult 
to  grow  than  the  terrestrial,  but  Wright  Boott 
apparently  learned  to  give  them  the  necessary 
light  and  air.  His  collection  included  Dendro- 
bium  orchids  from  Asia,  Oncidium  orchids 
from  Central  America,  and,  from  Brazil,  the 
Cattleya  orchids,  whose  large  blooms  of  cor- 
sage fame  are  actually  of  the  color  now  known 
as  orchid. 

Wright  Boott's  life  ended  in  sadness  and 
bitterness.  His  mother  finally  left  the  family 
home  in  1836  to  spend  the  remainder  of  her 
life  in  England  with  Francis  and  his  family. 
Kirk,  Jr.,  after  years  of  trying  to  help  Wright 
improve  his  own  and  the  family  fortunes, 
died  suddenly  in  Lowell  in  1837.  James  made 
a permanent  move  to  England  a year  later. 


William,  who  had  always  been  close  to 
Wright  and  had  helped  him  in  the  green- 
house, left  after  Wright  threatened  him  and 
drove  him  from  the  house.  On  the  other  hand, 
one  sister,  Mary  Boott  Lyman,  newly  wid- 
owed and  in  straitened  circumstances, 
moved  into  the  family  house  in  1844,  as  she 
felt  she  was  legally  entitled  to  do.  She  lived 
there  for  an  entire  year,  reportedly  without 
ever  sharing  a meal  with  Wright,  or  indeed 
even  speaking  to  him — all  according  to  condi- 
tions outlined  by  Wright  before  she  moved  in. 
Two  young  nephews  also  lived  in  the  house 
for  a time — in  idleness,  according  to  their 
aunt,  who  wrote  Francis  that  the  young  men 
rose  at  noon  and  lounged  about  for  hours,  con- 
tinually smoking  cigars.41 

The  family,  not  surprisingly,  became 
sharply  divided.  Those  in  England,  including 
Mrs.  Boott,  could  only  feel  sorry  for  Wright. 
Removed  as  they  were,  their  image  of  him 
was  blurred  by  fondness  for  the  man  he  once 
had  been.  Francis  wrote  in  1843  to  his  friend 
Asa  Gray,  newly  arrived  in  Cambridge  to 
direct  the  Harvard  Botanic  Garden,  that  he 
hoped  Gray  would  call  at  the  Boott  family's 
Bowdoin  Square  mansion.  Francis  was  sure 
Wright  would  be  pleased  to  show  Gray  his 
greenhouse  and  his  plants.42  In  fact,  it  is  un- 
likely that  Gray  would  have  been  cordially 
received.  Most  of  those  who  had  to  deal  with 
Wright  became  convinced  that  he  was  insane. 

The  atmosphere  of  the  Boott  establish- 
ment must  have  been  distinctly  unsettling. 
One  sister,  Eliza  Brooks,  described  an  1842 
visit  to  Wright.  She  looked  for  him  in  the 
house  and  then  in  the  garden,  but  "the  plants 
were  so  high  I did  not  see  him."  Eventually 
she  discovered  him  "picking  dead  leaves  off  a 
plant." 

"Your  dahlias  are  very  fine,"  she  said. 

He,  saying  nothing,  retreated  amongst  the 
dahlias  while  she  walked  along  the  gravel 
path.  "I  could  see  Wright  watching  me 
through  the  high  plants,"  she  wrote.43 

In  1845,  Wright  shot  himself.  His  suicide 
unleashed  a long  and  tiresome  battle,  waged 


The  Boott  Family  33 


in  public  and  in  endless  print,  between  his 
brother-in-law,  Edward  Brooks,  and  his  ex- 
ecutor, John  Amory  Lowell.  Lowell  report- 
edly blamed  Brooks  for  hounding  Wright  to 
his  death,  to  which  rumor  Brooks  reacted  by 
accusing  Lowell  of  trying  to  influence  Wright 
to  change  his  will.  Both  men  claimed  their 
only  interests  were  to  clear  their  own  good 
names  and  to  see  that  justice  was  done  in  the 
matter  of  inheritance.44 

After  obtaining  his  mother's  consent, 
Wright  had  sold  the  mansion  just  three 
months  before  he  died.45  The  bricks  in  one 
wall  were  incorporated  into  Revere  House,  a 
grand,  new  hotel  soon  erected  on  the  site,  but 
the  Boott  house,  greenhouse,  and  garden 
vanished  entirely. 

Under  Wright's  will,  his  precious  plants 
were  left  to  John  Amory  Lowell,  a third- 
generation  Boston  horticulturist,  who  tended 
his  collection  at  the  family  estate  in  Roxbury. 
Lowell  exhibited  some  of  the  plants  at  Horti- 
cultural Society  shows.  One  year  he  entered  a 
Dendrobium  orchid,  formerly  Boott's,  which 
was  four  feet  high  and  three  feet  in  diameter, 
covered  with  drooping  racemes  of  fragrant 
yellow  flowers.  In  1853,  Lowell  sold  his  On- 
cidium  orchids  to  the  Misses  Pratt  of  Water- 
town,  but  most  of  his  orchids  went  to  Edward 
S.  Rand  of  Dedham,  whose  collection  was 
said  to  be  the  finest  in  the  country.46  In  1876 
Rand's  son  still  owned  the  huge  Dendrobium 
which  had  belonged  to  Boott,  as  well  as  a 
Cattleya  crispa,  "as  large  as  a small  wash- 
tub." 

When  the  Rand  estate  was  sold,  most  of  the 
best  plants  were  given  to  Harvard.  Asa  Gray 
himself  divided  Wright's  venerable  Dendro- 
bium and  kept  half  for  Harvard's  Botanic  Gar- 
den. Probably  the  scattered  offspring  of 
Boott's  orchids  are  delighting  their  growers 
today.  In  the  end,  they  were  his  legacy. 

Endnotes 

Twelve  volumes  of  letters  of  Kirk  Boott,  Sr.,  are  on 
microfilm  at  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society. 
Most  of  the  letters  were  written  by  Kirk  Boott,  Sr.,  to  his 
sister  in  Derby,  England,  but  a number  are  by  Wright 


Boott.  The  letters  were  collected  by  Dr.  Francis  Boott, 
who  added  his  own  notes  and  comments  in  1846. 

Francis  Boott's  letters  to  Jacob  Bigelow  are  in  the 
Francis  A.  Countway  Library  of  Medicine,  Harvard 
Medical  School,  while  his  letters  to  Asa  Gray  are  in  the 
Library  of  the  Gray  Herbarium,  Harvard  University 
Herbaria,  Cambridge. 

The  records  of  the  Boston  Society  of  Natural  History 
are  at  the  Boston  Museum  of  Science. 

1.  Kirk  Boott  to  his  mother,  3 June  and  4 July  1784, 
Letters  of  Kirk  Boott,  Sr.,  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society  (Microfilm  Reel  1,  Volume  3). 

2.  Note  by  Francis  Boott,  ibid.,  Reel  1,  Volume  1,  page  68. 

3.  John  Boott  to  his  mother,  ibid.,  5 July  1783,  Reel  1, 
Volume  1. 

4.  Kirk  Boott  to  Eliza  Boott,  January  1783,  ibid.,  Reel  1, 
Volume  1. 

5.  Kirk  Boott  to  Eliza  Boott,  February  1 783,  ibid.,  Reel  1, 

Volume  1. 

6.  Kirk  Boott  to  Eliza  Boott,  13  June  1783,  ibid.,  Reel  1, 

Volume  2. 

7.  Kirk  Boott  to  Eliza  Boott,  13  June  1804,  ibid.,  Reel  2, 
Volume  2. 

8.  Kirk  Boot  to  Eliza  Boott,  ibid.,  22  July  1795,  Reel  1, 
Volume  6. 

9.  Ibid.,  Kirk  Boott  to  Eliza  Boott,  7 January  1799,  Reel 

1,  Volume  6. 

10.  Ibid.,  Kirk  Boott  to  Eliza  Boott,  17  November  1802, 
Reel  2,  Volume  1. 

11.  Suffolk  County  Deeds,  Boston,  Massachusetts,  Vol- 
ume 185,  page  82,  and  Volume  208,  page  90. 

12.  Bulfinch's  Boston,  1 787-181 7,  by  Harold  Kirker  and 
James  Kirker,  New  York:  Oxford  University  Press, 
1964,  page  80. 

13.  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  J.  W.  Boott  to  Eliza 
Boott,  30  September  1805,  Reel  2,  Volume  2. 

14.  Ibid.,  Kirk  Boott  to  Eliza  Boott,  13  June  1804,  Reel  2, 
Volume  2. 

15.  Ibid.,  Kirk  Boott  to  Eliza  Boott,  30  October  1787, 
Reel  1,  Volume  4. 

16.  Ibid.,  Kirk  Boott  to  Eliza  Boott,  22  July  1795,  Reel  1, 
Volume  6. 

17.  Ibid.,  Kirk  Boott  to  Eliza  Boott,  16  December  1805, 
Reel  2,  Volume  2. 

18.  Ibid.,  Kirk  Boott  to  Eliza  Boott,  15  April  1806,  Reel 

2,  Volume  2. 

19.  Ibid.,  Kirk  Boott  to  Eliza  Boott,  10  June  1809,  Reel  2, 
Volume  3. 

20.  Ibid.,  J.  W.  B.  to  Eliza  Boott,  16  May  1807,  Reel  2, 
Volume  3. 

21.  Ibid.,  note  by  Francis  Boott,  Reel  2,  Volume  3,  Page 

102. 

22.  Thomas  Jefferson’s  Flower  Carden  at  Monticello,  by 
Edwin  M.  Betts  and  Hazlehurst  B.  Perkins,  Char- 
lottesville, Virginia:  University  Press  of  Virginia, 
1971,  pages  54  to  58;  The  Mount  Vernon  Cardens, 


34  The  Boott  Family 


Robert  B.  Fisher,  Mount  Vernon,  Virginia:  The 
Mount  Vernon  Ladies'  Association,  1960,  pages  16  to 

24. 

23.  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  Kirk  Boott  to  Eliza 
Boott,  February  1783,  Reel  1,  Volume  1. 

24.  The  American  Gardener's  Calendar,  Seventh  Edi- 
tion, by  Bernard  M'Mahon,  Philadelphia:  A. 
M'Mahon,  1828,  page  86. 

25.  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  Kirk  Boott  to  Eliza 
Boott,  28  September  1812,  Reel  2,  Volume  5. 

26.  Ibid.,  J.  W.  B.  to  Eliza  Boott,  16  April  1806,  Reel  2, 
Volume  2. 

27.  Francis  Boott  to  Jacob  Bigelow,  25  June  1817;  letters 
of  Francis  Boott,  Countway  Library,  Harvard  Medical 
School. 

28.  Sedges  and  a spur,  by  George  E.  Gifford,  Jr.  Harvard 
Medical  Alumni  Bulletin,  Volume  42  (Winter  1968), 
pages  23  to  26. 

29.  Botanical  necrology  for  the  year  1863,  by  Asa  Gray. 
The  American  Journal  of  Science  and  the  Arts,  Sec- 
ond Series,  Volume  73,  page  289  (May  1864). 

30.  See  "The  Nineteenth- Century  Amateur  Tradition: 
The  Case  of  the  Boston  Society  of  Natural  History," 
by  Sally  G.  Kohlstedt,  pages  173  to  187  in  Science  and 
Its  Public,  edited  by  Gerald  Holton  and  William  A. 
Blanspied.  Dordrecht,  Holland:  Reidel,  1976. 

31.  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society,  Transactions, 
1834,  page  23. 

32.  Wright's  sister-in-law,  Mrs.  Kirk  Boott,  Jr.,  was  the 
only  Boott  to  enter  a subsequent  Horticultural  Soci- 
ety show.  According  to  the  Society's  1837  Transac- 
tions (page  42),  she  submitted  a "curious  Cucumber" 
eight  feet  long.  "[I]ts  form  reminded  many  of  a ser- 
pent." 

33.  A Correspondence  between  Edward  Brooks  and 
John  A.  Lowell.  Boston:  S.  N.  Dickinson,  1847,  pas- 
sim. 

34.  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  Kirk  Boott  to  Eliza 
Boott,  1819,  Reel  2,  Volume  4. 

35.  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society,  Transactions, 
1837-8,  pages  23  and  27. 

36.  Ibid.,  1874,  Part  1,  pages  25  and  34. 

37.  The  Memorial  History  of  Boston,  including  Suffolk 
County,  Massachusetts.  1630-1880.  Four  volumes 
Boston:  J.  R.  Osgood  and  Company,  188 1-1883.  Vol- 
ume 4,  page  612. 

38.  The  Glass  House,  by  John  Hix.  Cambridge,  Massa- 
chusetts: M.I.T.  Press,  1974.  Pages  92  to  93. 

39.  Kew  and  orchidology,  by  Gordon  P.  DeWolf,  Jr. 
American  Orchid  Society  Bulletin  (December  1959), 
Volume  28,  pages  877  to  880. 

40.  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Society,  Transactions, 
1874,  page  34. 

41.  Correspondence  between  Brooks  and  Lowell,  page 
115. 

42.  Francis  Boott  to  Asa  Gray,  1 May  1843.  Francis  Boott 
letters,  Harvard  University  Herbaria. 


43.  Correspondence  between  Brooks  and  Lowell,  page 
113. 

44.  Ibid.-,  An  Answer  to  the  Pamphlet  of  Mr.  John  A. 
Lowell,  by  Edward  Brooks.  Boston:  Eastbum's  Press, 
1851. 

45.  Suffolk  County  Deeds,  Volume  544,  page  78. 

46.  Orchids,  by  Edward  Sprague  Rand,  Jr.  New  York, 
1876.  Pages  131  to  136. 

Acknowledgment 

The  Harvard  University  Archives  provided  helpful  in- 
formation about  the  early  careers  of  Francis  Boott  and 

Kirk  Boott,  Jr. 

Bibliography 

Edward  Brooks.  An  Answer  to  the  Pamphlet  of  Mr.  John 
A.  Lowell.  Boston:  Eastbum's  press,  1851. 

A Correspondence  between  Edward  Brooks  and  John  A. 
Lowell.  Boston:  S.  N.  Dickinson,  1847. 

Gordon  P.  DeWolf,  Jr.  Kew  and  orchidology.  American 
Orchid  Society  Bulletin,  Volume  28,  pages 
877  to  880  (December  1959). 

George  E.  Gifford,  Jr.  Sedges  and  a spur.  Harvard  Medical 
Alumni  Bulletin,  Volume  42  (Winter  1968), 
pages  23  to  26. 

Asa  Gray.  Botanical  necrology  for  the  year  1863.  The 
American  Journal  of  Science  and  the  Arts, 
Second  Series,  Volume  37  (May  1864),  pages 
288  to  292. 

John  Hix.  The  Glass  House.  Cambridge,  Massachusetts: 
M.I.T.  Press,  1974. 

Harold  Kirker  and  James  Kirker.  Bulfinch's  Boston, 
1787-1817 . New  York:  Oxford  University 
Press,  1964. 

Bernard  M'Mahan.  The  American  Gardener's  Calendar, 
Seventh  Edition.  Philadelphia:  A.  M'Mahon, 
1828. 

Bradley  R.  Parker.  Kirk  Boott:  Master  Spirit  of  Early 
Lowell.  Lowell,  Massachusetts,  1985. 

Edward  Sprague  Rand,  Jr.  Orchids.  New  York:  Hurd  and 
Houghton,  1876. 

Merle  A.  Reinikka.  A History  of  the  Orchid.  Coral 
Gables,  Florida:  University  of  Miami  Press, 
1972. 

Justin  Winsor.  The  Memorial  History  of  Boston,  includ- 
ing Suffolk  County,  Massachusetts.  1630- 
1880.  Four  volumes.  Boston:  J.  R.  Osgood  and 
Company,  1881-1884. 


Alan  Emmet  writes  often  on  landscape  history  and  gar- 
den history.  In  1980,  Harvard  University's  Graduate 
School  of  Design  pubhshed  her  book-length  study  of 
changes  in  the  landscape  of  Cambridge,  Massachusetts; 
more  recently,  several  of  her  articles  on  garden  history 
were  published  in  Garden  History,  The  Journal  of  Gar- 
den History,  and  other  English  journals. 


Index  to  Volume  47 


(Numbers  in  parentheses  refer  to  issues,  those  in  boldface  to  illustrations.) 


"A  Diversity  of  Hollies,"  Polly  Hill, 

(1):  2-13 

"A  Life  Redeemed:  Susan  Delano 
McKelvey  and  the  Arnold  Arbore- 
tum," Edmund  A.  Schofield,  (4): 
9-23 

Abies  homolepis,  (2):  14 

mariesii,  (2):  12 

maximowiczii,  (2):  14 

sachalinensis,  (2):  5 

shikokianum,  (2):  12 

vietchii,  (2):  12,  14 

Acer  alpina,  (2):  8 

buergeranum,  (2):  4 

carpinifolium,  (2):  12 

japonicum,  (2):  14 

mono  var.  mayrii,  (2):  7 

" montanum,"  (3):  8 

Adams,  Rev.  William,  (4):  10 
Agassiz,  Louis,  (4):  11 
Aglaonema,  (2):  27 
Ajuda  (Lisbon),  (3):  32 

Royal  Garden  of,  original  plan 

of,  (3):  33 

Palace  of  (Lisbon),  (3):  37 

Botanical  Garden  (Lisbon),  (3): 

back  cover 

— quarter  (Lisbon),  (3):  inside 

front  cover,  32 

Albuquerque  (New  Mexico)  (4):  14 
Aldrich,  Chester  Holmes  (4):  10 
Altamaha  River  (Georgia),  (4):  4 
Almeida  Monteiro,  Antonio  de,  and 
Jules  Janick,  "The  'Tapada  da 
Ajuda,'  Portugal's  First  Botanical 
Garden,"  (3):  30^38 
Alstrcemeria  haemantha , (3):  15 
Alvarez  de  Faria,  Manuel  Godoy,  (3): 
19 

Abies  sachalinensis,  (2):  7 
American  Gardener's  Chronicle,  (4): 
28 

Andrade  Corvo,  Joao  de,  (3):  37 
Andre,  Carl,  (2):  9 
Anthoensen,  Frederick  W.,  (4):  21 
Anthoensen  Press,  (4):  21 
Anthurium,  (2):  27 
Apache  Lodge  (Arizona),  (4):  15 
Araceae,  (2):  27 
Araucaria  excelsa,  (3):  36 
Arisaema,  (2):  27,  29-32,  33 

flowering  of,  (2):  29 

candidissimum,  (2):  30,  32 

dracontium,  (2):  29,  30 


fargesii,  (2):  32,  33 

japonicum,  (2):  31,  33 

ringens,  (2):  31,  32 

forma  praecox,  (2):  32 

forma  sieboldii,  (2):  32 

serratum,  (2):  30,  31,  31 

sikokianum,  (2):  front  cover, 

29 

thunbergii,  (2):  31 

ssp.  pusillum,  (2):  30 

var.  quinatum,  (2):  30 

var.  urashima,  (2):  30 

triphyllum,  (2):  29 

ssp.  stewardsonii,  (2):  29- 

30 

ssp.  triphyllum,  (2):  29 

'Zebrinum',  (2):  29 

Arisarum,  (2):  27 
Arizona  (4):  18 

Asheville  (North  Carolina),  (4):  4 
Artemisia  norvegica,  (2):  7 
Arum,  mousetail,  (2):  32^33 
Arum  Family,  (2):  27 
Arum,  (2):  27,  33^34 

italicum,  (2):  29,  33 

var.  italicum,  (2):  33 

ssp.  neglectum,  (2):  33 

maculatum,  (2):  33 

'Marmoratum',  (2):  33 

'Pictum',  (2):  33 

Asarum,  (2):  32-33 

proboscideum,  (2):  32 

Asahi,  Mount  (Japan),  (2):  5,  5 
Asparagus  plumosa,  (3):  38 
aster,  New  England,  (2):  18 
Aster  novae-angliae,  (2):  18 
Athyrium  gceringianum  'Pictum', 

(2) :  30 

Austrich,  Ricardo  R.,  photographs 
by,  (3):  2,  25,  26,  27,  28,  29 

"El  Real  Jardin  Botanico  de 

Madrid  and  the  Glorious  History 
of  Botany  in  Spain,"  (3):  2-24 

and  J.  Walter  Brain,  "The 

Madrid  Botanical  Garden  Today: 
A Brief  Photographic  Portfolio," 

(3) :  25-29 
Awa  Odori,  (2):  11 
azalea,  pink  shell,  (4):  3 

Bailey  Arboretum  (Locust  Valley, 
New  York),  (1):  front  cover 
Bailey  Plan,  (4):  21 
Bamades,  Miguel,  (3):  9 
death  of,  (3):  9 


Barnhart,  John  Hendley,  (4):  19 
Barstow,  Jolin,  and  Kate  Gridley, 
book  review  by,  (3):  39^40 
Bartram,  William,  (4):  3 
Bedford,  Sixth  Duke  of,  (4):  32 
Begonia  discolor,  (4) :3 1 
Belem,  Palace  of  (Lisbon),  (3):  37 

Tower  of  (Lisbon),  (3):  37 

Berckmans'  Nursery,  P.  J.  (4):  4 
Bermudas,  A.  (architect),  (3):  31 
Betula  ermanii,  (2):  7 

lenta,  (2):  27 

Bibliotheca  Botanica  (1751),  (3):  3 
Big  Hammock  Natural  Area 
(Georgia),  (4):  4 
Bigelow,  Jacob,  (4):  29 
Bigelow's  Lawn,  (4):  29 
Biltmore  Forest  (North  Carolina),  (4): 
4 

birch,  black,  (2):  27 
Bletia  tankervilleae,  (4):  32 
bloodroot,  (2):  27 
Bonpland,  Aime,  (3):  16 
"Books"  (column),  (1):  26-32;  (2):  35- 
36;  (3):  39-40 
Boott,  Francis,  (4):  25-34 

J.  Wright,  Esq.,  (4):  31 

James,  (4):  30 

Mrs.  Kirk,  Jr.,  (4):  31 

William,  (4):  30 

Boott  Spur,  (4):  29 
Boottia  cordata,  (4):  30 
"borrowed  scenery,"  (2):  11 
Boston  (Massachusetts),  (3):  7;  (4): 

24,  26,  27,  28,  29 
Boston  Athenaeum,  (4):  21,  22 
Boston  Society  of  Natural  History, 

(4):  30 

Botanic  Garden  (Harvard  Univer- 
sity), (4):  32,  33 

Botanical  Exploration  of  the  Trans- 
Mississippi  West,  by  Susan 
Delano  McKelvey  (1955),  (3):  21; 
(4):  21 

Botanical  Museum  (Harvard 
University),  (4):  19 
"Botany:  The  State  of  the  Art" 
(column),  (1):  20-25 
Boufford,  David  E.,  book  review  by, 
(1):  26-27 

Bozeman,  Dr.  John,  (4):  4 
Brain,  J.  Walter,  photographs  by,  (2): 
23,  28 

and  Ricardo  R.  Austrich, 


36  Index 


"The  Madrid  Botanical  Garden 
Today:  A Brief  Photographic 
Portfolio/'  (3):  25-29 
British  Iris  Society,  (4):  15 
British  Museum  (Natural  History), 
(4):  13 

Britton,  Nathaniel  Lord,  (4):  16 
Brooks,  Edward,  (4):  33 

Eliza,  (4):  32 

Brotero,  Felix  da  Silva  de  Avellar,  (3): 
37 

Brugmansia  sanguinea,  (3):  15 
Bryanthus  gmelinii,  (2):  5 
Bryn  Mawr  College  (4):  9,  10 
Bulfinch,  Charles,  (4):  27 
cactus,  pincushion,  (2):  23 
Cactus  triangularis,  (4):  31 
Caladium,  (2):  27 
California,  (4):  17 

California  Academy  of  Sciences,  (4): 
12 

Calla,  (2):  27 
Canary  Islands,  (3):  13 
Canoochee  River  (Georgia),  (4):  4 
"captured  landscape,"  (2):  11 
" Cardamindum  ampliori,"  (3):  7,  9 
Carex  spp.,  (4):  30 
castor  bean,  (4):  28 
Castroviejo,  Santiago,  (3):  22 
Cattleya  spp.,  (4):  32 

crispa,  (4):  33 

Cavanilles,  Antonio  Jose,  (3):  19-21 
Cervantes,  Vicente,  (3):  16 
Carvalho  e Mello,  Sebastiao  Jose  de 
(Marques  de  Pombal),  (3):  30,  31 
Caryophillidae,  (3):  27 
Cascais  (Portugal),  (3):  37 
Centennial  Gold  Medal  (Massachu- 
setts Horticultural  Society),  (4):  14 
Cereus  giganteus,  (2):  22,  24 
Chamaecyparis  obtusa,  (2):  14 
Chapultepec  (hill)  (Mexico),  (3):  16 
Charles  Sprague  Sargent  Memorial 
Fund,  (4):  13,  21-22 
Charles  I (Carlos  I)  (King  of  Spain), 
(3):  9 

Charles  III  (Carlos  III)  (King  of 
Spain),  (3):  6,  10,  11,  12,  15 
Charles  IV  (King  of  Spain),  (3):  18 
Chile,  (3):  12,  13,  14,  15 
Chorizema  henchmarmi,  (4):  31 
Cinchona  sp.,  (3):  15 
"Clonal  and  Age  Differences  in  the 
Rooting  of  Metasequoia  glyp- 
tostroboides  Cuttings,"  John  E. 
Kuser,  (1):  14-19 
Collet,  Lady,  (4):  15 

Sir  Mark,  (4):  15 

Colocasia  esculenta,  (2):  27 
Colombia,  (3):  16 
Colorado,  (4):  19 


Columbia  University  School  of 
Architecture,  (4):  10 
Commission  on  the  Renovation  of 
the  Executive  Mansion,  (4):  11 
Committee  to  Visit  the  Arnold 
Arboretum,  (4):  13,  22 
coneflower,  Tennessee  purple,  (2): 

20,  23 

Coolidge,  Joseph,  (4):  31 
Cornus  florida,  (2):  27 
Corylus  heterophylla,  (2):  7 

sieboldiana,  (3):  40 

Cosmos,  (3):  19 

spp.,  (3):  18 

sulphureus,  (3):  13 

Couto,  C.  (architect),  (3):  31 
Covent  Garden  Marketplace,  (4):32 
Creech,  Dr.  John,  (2):  31,  33 
Crow  Castle  (Japan),  (2):  13,  13 
Cryptomeria  japonica,  (2):  12 
Cuba,  (3):  12 

"Cultivating  Native  Plants:  The 
Possibilities,"  Susan  Storer,  (2): 
16-19 

Cupressus  macrocarpa,  (2):  15 
Curtis,  Will  C.,  (2):  16 
Cypripedium  spp.,  (2):  22,  23 

calceolus,  (2):  21,  22 

Dahlia,  (3):  19 

spp.,  (3):  18 

Daisetsuzan  National  Park  (Japan), 
(2):  4-6,  5 

Dali,  Curtis  B.,  (4):  11 

Mr.,  (4):  1 1 

William  Healy,  (4):  11 

damp-off  disease,  (4):  7 
Datura  sanguinea,  (3):  15 
de  Jussieu,  Antoine,  (3):  19 

Joseph,  (3):  15 

Del  Tredici,  Peter,  (3):  39 

"Lost  and  Found:  Elliottia 

racemosa,"  (4):  2-8 
Delano,  Eugene,  (4):  10 

Moreau,  (4):  10,13,  17,  18,  19 

Susan  Adams,  (4):  9 

Susan  Magoun,  (4):  9,  10 

Susan  Magoun  Adams,  (4):  10 

William  Adams,  (4):  10—1 1,  13 

& Aldrich  (architecture  firm), 

(4):  10 

Dendrobium  sp.,  (4):  33 

spp.,  (4):32 

Derby  (England),  (4):  24,  25 
Descripciones  de  las  Plantas 

Demonstrandas  en  las  Lecciones 
Publicas,  by  Antonio  Jose  Cava- 
nilles, (3):  19 

Desert  Botanical  Garden,  photo- 
graph by,  (2):  23 
Dieffenbachia,  (2):  27 
Dilleniidae,  (3):  27 


Dionaea  muscipula,  (2):  21 
dogwood,  (2):  27 
Dombey,  Joseph,  (3):  15 
Don,  David,  (3):  21 
Dracaena  draco,  (3):  38 
Dry  Landscape,  (2):  9 
Dryopteris  boottii,  (4):  30 
Earthquake  of  1755  (Lisbon),  (3): 

inside  front  cover 
Eastwood,  Alice,  (4):  12,  13,  14,  15, 
16,  17,  18,  19,  20,  back  cover 
Echinacea  termesseensis,  (2):  20,  23 
£cole  des  Beaux-Arts  (Paris),  (4):  10 
Edlmann,  Violet  F.  (Lady  Collet),  (4): 
14,  15 

photograph  by,  (4):  15 

Edo  (Japan),  (2):  3 

Edo  Period  (Japan),  (2):  9 

"Eight  Views  of  Nippon,"  Robert  G. 

Nicholson,  (2):  2-15 
Einset,  John  W.,  "Botany:  The  State 
of  the  Art,"  (column),  (1):  20-25 

"How  Development's 

Clock  Guides  Evolution,"  (1):  20- 
25 

"El  Real  Jardin  Botanico  de  Madrid 
and  the  Glorious  History  of 
Botany  in  Spain,"  Ricardo  R. 
Austrich,  (3):  2-24 
El  Reno  (Oklahoma),  (4):  19 
Elliott,  Stephen,  (4):  3,  4 
Elliottia  racemosa,  (2):  5;  (4):  front 
cover,  2,  2-8,  5 

cultivation  of,  (4):  7 

distribution  of,  (4):  3,  4 

ecology  of,  (4):  4-5 

seeds  of,  (4):  6 

germination  of,  (4):  5-7 

Emily  Renwick  Achievement  Medal 
(Garden  Club  of  America),  (4):  14 
Empetrum  sp.,  (2):  14 

nigrum,  (2):  7 

var.  japonicum,  (2):  5,  14 

Engstrand,  Iris  H.  W.,  (3):  18 
Enkianthus  perulatus,  (2):  4 
Ensenada,  Marques  de  la,  (3):  5 
Escola  Politecnica  (Lisbon),  (3):  38 
escuelas  botdnicas,  (3):  11,  22,  28 
Estoril  (Portugal),  (3):  37 
Ewan,  Joseph,  (4):21 
Expedicion  Botanica  al  Reino  de 
Nueva  Esparia,  (3):  16 
Fagus  crenata,  (2):  12 
Faneuil  Hall  (Boston),  (4):  31 
Faxon,  Charles  Edward,  drawing  by, 
(3):  inside  back  cover,  2 
Ferdinand  VI  (King  of  Spain),  (3):  4,  5 
fern,  Japanese,  (2):  30 
Ficus  benjamina,  (3):  38 

elastica,  (3):  36 

macrophylla,  (3):  38 


Index  37 


fir,  Shikoku,  (2):  12 
Fischer,  Cecil  E.  C.,  (4):  13 
Flora  Espahola,  by  Jose  Quer  y 
Martinez,  (3):  4,  5,  6,  7,  7,  8,  9 
Flora  Iberica,  (3):  22 
Flora  Mexicana,  (3):  18 
Flora  of  Japan,  by  Jisaburo  Ohwi,  (2): 

32,  34 

Flora  Peruviana,  et  Chilensis,  (3):  15 
Flora  Republican  Populous  Sinicae, 

(2) :  32 

"Flowering  Trees  and  Shrubs:  The 
Botanical  Paintings  of  Esther 
Heins,"  by  Judith  Leet  (reviewed), 

(3) :  39-40 

Flowers  for  the  King,  by  Arthur 
Robert  Steele,  mentioned,  (3):  15 

quoted,  (3):  4,  6 

Fordham,  Alfred  J.,  (4):  5 
Forrest,  George,  (2):  30 
Foster,  H.  Lincoln,  garden  of,  (2): 
front  cover,  32,  34 

Laura  Louise,  (2):  34 

Fothergill,  Dr.  John  (3):  11-12;  (4):  32 

Fragaria  chiloensis,  (3):  8 

Franco,  Francisco,  (3):  22 

French,  Peggy,  (2):  29 

Fritillaria  camtschatcensis,  (2):  7 

Fuchsia  corymbiflora,  (3):  15 

magellanica  var.  macrostema, 

(3):  15 
Fuji,  (2):  15 

Garden  in  the  Woods  (Framingham, 
Massachusetts),  (2):  inside  front 
cover,  16,  17,  22 
Garden  of  Ajuda,  (3):  34,  35 
Gardenesque  style,  (2):  10 
Gathering  the  Desert,  by  Gary  Paul 
Nabhan  (reviewed),  (2):  35-36 
General  Catalogue  of  All  Plants  in 
the  Royal  Botanical  Garden  of 
Ajuda,  by  Felix  da  Silva  de 
Avellar  Brotero,  (3):  37 
Georgia  plume,  (4):  front  cover,  2,  2- 
8,  5,  7 

cultivation  of,  (4):7 

ecology  of,  (4):  4-5 

Geum  pentapetalum,  (2):  5 
ginger,  European,  (2):  17 
Gingko  biloba,  (2):  4;  (4):  3 
Glacier  National  Park,  (4):  11-12 
Gladwyne  (Pennsylvania),  (4):  4 
Glasnevin,  (3):  36 

Glattstein,  Judy,  book  review  by,  (1): 

29^0 

"Hardy  Aroids  in  the 

Garden,"  (2):  27^4 
photographs  by,  (2):  28,  31, 

33,  back  cover 

Glen  Road  Iris  Gardens,  (4):  15 
Gomez  Ortega,  Casimiro,  (3):  6,  9, 


10,  11,  13,  16,  19,  22 
Gray,  Asa,  (4):  4,  32 
Gray  Herbarium,  (4):  13 
Great  Northern  Railroad,  (4):  12 
Green  Swamp  (North  Carolina- 
South  Carolina),  (2):  21 
Greene,  Gardiner,  (4):  27,  28 
Gridley,  Kate,  and  John  Barstow, 
book  review  by,  (3):  39-40 
Grimaldi,  Marques  de,  (3):  10 
Hanke,  Thaddaus,  (3):  1,  19,  21 
Halenia  sp.,  (2):  14 
Hamilton,  Oscar  Edward,  (4):  14,  15, 
16,  17,  19,  21,  22 

"Hardy  Aroids  in  the  Garden,"  Judy 
Glattstein,  (2):  27-34 
Harvard  Alumni  Bulletin,  (4):  19 
Harvard  University  Press,  (4):  21 
Heins,  Esther,  (3):  39^10 
Hemerocallis  sp.,  (2):  12,  14 

middendorfii,  (2):  6 

Henry,  Mary,  (4):  4 
Henry  Foundation,  (4):  4,  5 
Hernandez,  Francisco,  (3):  4,  14 
Hernandez  Expedition,  (3):  4 
Hexastylis  spp.,  (2):  27 
Hicks,  Jennifer  H.,  photograph  by, 

(2):  front  cover 

Hill,  Polly,  "A  Diversity  of  Hollies," 
(1):  2-13 

Historia  General  y Natural  de  las 
lndias,  by  Gonzalo  Fernandez  de 
Oviedo  y Valdes,  (3):  4 
Hohman,  Henry,  (4):  5,  6 
Hokkaido  (Japan),  (2):  4,  5,  6,  30,  31 
hollies,  deciduous,  (1):  9 

common,  (1):  6 

Honshu  (Japan),  (2):  12,  12,  14,  30,  31 
Hooker,  Sir  William  Jackson,  (4):  30 
Hope,  John,  (3):  12 
Horticulture,  (4):  13,  17 
Hosta  sp.,  (2):  14 

rectifolia,  (2):  6 

"How  Development's  Clock  Guides 
Evolution,"  John  Einset,  (1):  20-25 
Howard,  Richard  A.,  (4):  21,  22 
Humboldt,  Alexander  von,  (3):  16 
Hydrangea  sikokiana,  (2):  12 
Ilex  'Apollo',  (1):  9 

'Lydia  Morris',  (1):  1 

'Sparkleberry',  (1):  9 

Ilex  aquifolium,  (1):  6 
Ilex  ciliospinosa,  (1):  8 

cornuta  'Bufordii',  (1):  1,  back 

cover 

laevigata,  (1):  10 

opaca,  (1):  2,  4 

fruiting  branch  of,  (1): 

front  cover 

pedunculosa,  (1):  inside  back 

cover 


serrata,  (1):  9 

verticillata,  (1):  9 

Indio,  California,  (4):  19 
Instituto  Superior  de  Agronomia 
(Lisbon),  (3):  38 

Instruccion  sobre  el  Modo  Mas 
Seguro  y Economico  de  Transpor- 
ter Plantas  Vivas  por  Mar  y For 
Tierra  a los  Paises  Mas  Distantes, 
by  Casimiro  Gomez  Ortega,  (3): 
13-14 

International  Association  of 
Botanical  Gardens,  European- 
Mediterranean  Division,  (3):  38 
invernaculo  (Madrid  Botanical 
Garden),  (3):  27,  28,  29 
"Isabellino"  style,  (3):  22,  27 
Iwasaki,  Baron,  (2):  4 
Jack,  John  G.,  (4):  1 1 
jack-in- the-pulpit,  Japanese,  (2):  17 
Janick,  Jules,  and  Antonio  de 

Almeida  Monteiro,  "The  'Tapada 
da  Ajuda,'  Portugal's  First 
Botanical  Garden,"  (3):  30-38 
Japanese  Alps,  (2):  14 
Jardim  Botanico  da  Ajuda,  O,  (3):  30- 
38,  inside  front  cover,  back  cover 
Jardin  Botanico  de  Migas  Calientes, 
El,  (3):  6,  8 

Jardin  Botanico  del  Soto  de  Migas 
Calientes,  El  (Madrid),  (3):  5 
Jeronimos,  Monastery  of  (Lisbon), 

(3) :  37 

Jose  I (King  of  Portugal),  (3):  31,  32 
Journal  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum, 

(4) :  18,  19 

Journal  of  the  Royal  Horticultural 
Society,  (4):  13 
Judd,  William  H.,  (4):  9 
kaiya-shiki,  (2):  9 
Kalopanax  pictus,  (2):  12 
Kamakura  Period  (Japan),  (2):  9 
Kamo,  Kyushu  (Japan),  (1):  inside 
back  cover 
Karesansui,  (2):  9 

Kew  Gardens  (England),  (4):  4,  13,  28 
Kikugetsu-tei,  (2):  10 
King,  G.  R.,  photograph  by,  (3):  21 
Kingsville  Nurseries,  (4):  5,  6 
Koller,  Gary  L.,  (2):  3 
Koraku-en  (Japan),  (2):  12 
Koraku  Garden  (Japan),  (2):  12-13 
Krebs,  William,  photograph  by,  (2): 
22 

Kudo,  Yushun,  (2):  7 
Kuser,  John  E.,  "Clonal  and  Age 
Differences  in  the  Rooting  of 
Metasequoia  glyptostroboides," 
(1):  14-19 

Kuser,  John  E.,  photographs  by,  (1): 
inside  front  cover,  15,  16,  17,  18 


38  Index 


Kyoto  (Japan),  (2):  3,  8,  9 
Kyushu,  (2):  31 

lady's-slipper,  yellow,  (2):  21,  22 
Lagerstrcemia  indica,  (3):  36 
Lamy  (New  Mexico),  (4):  14 
Landscape  Architecture,  (4):  13 
Las  Vegas  (New  Mexico),  (4):  14 
leadwort,  (4):  31 

Lilac:  A Monograph,  The,  (4):  13,  14, 
16 

Leet,  Judith,  Flowering  Trees  and 
Shrubs:  The  Botanical  Paintings 
of  Esther  Heins  (reviewed),  (3):  39- 
40 

L'Heritier  de  Brunelle,  Charles 
Louis,  (3):  12 

Leiden  Botanic  Garden,  (2):  32,  33 
Lilium  superbum,  (2):  17 
lily,  Turk's-cap,  (2):  17 
Lima,  Barbosa,  drawing  by,  (3):  34 
Lindera  obtusiloba,  (2):  14 
Link,  Johann  Heinrich  Friedrich, 
quoted,  (3):  36 
Linnaea  borealis,  (2):  7 
Linnaeus,  (3):  3,  4,  6,  7,  9 

bust  of,  (3):  29 

Linnean  Society  of  London,  (4):  30 
Lisbon,  (3):  inside  front  cover 
locust,  black,  (3):  7 
Loddiges's  Nursery,  (4):  32 
Lbfling,  Pehr,  (3):  6 
Loiseleuria  procumbens,  (2):  7 
London,  (4):  24 
Longland,  David,  (2):  1 
Lord,  Elizabeth  M.,  photographs  by, 

(1):  23,  24 

Losada,  Duque  de,  (3):  10 
"Lost  and  Found:  Elliottia 

racemosa,"  Peter  Del  Tredici,  (4): 
2-8 

Love,  Mary,  (4):  25 
Lowell,  John  Amory,  (4):  33 
Lowell  (Massachusetts),  (4):  30,  32 
Lyman,  Mary  Boott,  (4):  32 

Theodore,  (4):  25-26,  28 

Lynch,  John  A.,  photograph  by,  (2): 

inside  front  cover,  1,  17,  18 
Lysichiton,  (2):  27 

americanum,  (2):  28,  back 

cover 

camtschatcense,  (2):  6 

Madrid,  Real  Jardin  Botanico  de,  (3): 
2-29,  2,  12,  23,  25-29 

-plans  of,  (3):  11,  25,  27 

Madrid  Botanical  Garden,  (3):  2-29, 

2,  12,  23,  25-29 

plans  of,  (3):  11,  25,  27 

■ — — — —view  of  in  summer,  (3):  2 
"Madrid  Botanical  Garden  Today:  A 
Brief  Photographic  Portfolio, 

The,"  (3):  25-29 


Magnolia  ashei,  (2):  7 

hypoleuca,  (2):  7 

macrophylla,  (2):  7 

tripetala,  (2):  7 

virginiana,  (2):  4 

Malaspina,  Alejandro,  (3):  18,  19 
Malaspina  Expedition,  (3):  13,  14, 
18-19,  21 

landfalls  (map),  (3):  20 

Mangelsdorf,  Paul  C.,  (4):  19,  22 
Manuelino  style,  (3):  37 
Many  Glacier,  (4):  12 
Maria  Luisa  of  Parma  (Queen  of 
Spain),  (3):  19 

Marion,  North  Carolina,  (2):  14 
Massachusetts  Horticultural 
Society,  (4):  21,  30,  31 
Mattiazzi,  Julio,  (3):  31,  32 
Mazatzal  Mountains  (Arizona),  (4): 

15 

McKelvey,  Charles  Wylie,  (4):  10,  16, 
17 

Delano,  (4):  11 

Susan  Adams  Delano,  (4):  9- 

23 

McMahan,  Linda  R.,  "Cultivating 
Native  Plants:  The  Legal  Pitfalls," 

(2):  20-24 

photographs  by,  (2):  21,  24 

Menzies,  Archibald,  (3):  21 
Merrimack  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, (4):  30 

Metasequoia  glyptostroboides,  (1): 

15 

trunk  of,  (1):  inside  front 

cover 

Mexico,  (3):  13 
Mexico  City,  (3):  16 
Mezitt,  Edmund,  (4):  8 
Michener,  David  C.,  review  by,  (2): 
35-36 

Migas  Calientes,  (3):  5,  6,  9,  10 

El  Jardin  Botanico  de, 

plan  of,  (3):  6 
Minuart,  Juan,  (3):  6 
Missouri  Botanical  Garden,  (4):  17 
Miyabe,  Kingo,  (2):  4,  inside  back 
cover 

M'Mahon,  Bernard,  (4):  28 
Mocirio,  Jose  Mariano,  (3):  16 

explorations  of  in  New 

Spain  (map),  (3):  18 
Monastery  of  Jeronimos  (Lisbon),  (3): 
37 

Monstera,  (2):  27 
Monteiro,  Antonio  de  Almeida, 
photographs  by,  (3):  35,  36,  37, 
back  cover 

Monterey,  California,  (3):  1,  19 
Moore,  David,  quoted,  (3):  36 
Muhlenberg,  Gotthilf,  (4):  3 


Murillo  Gate  (Madrid  Botanical 
Garden),  (3):  27 

Muromachi  Period  (Japan),  (2):  9 
Mutisia  clematis,  (3):  front  cover 
Mutis  y Bosio,  Jose  Celestino  Bruno, 

(3) :  1,  14,  15,  16,  17 

Nabhan,  Gary  Paul,  Gathering  the 
Desert  (reviewed),  (2):  35-36 
Napoleon,  invades  Spain,  (3):  21 
Nara  (Japan),  (2):  3 
nasturtium,  (3):  7 
National  Arboretum  (Washington, 
D-C.),  (1):  9 

National  Capital  Park  and  Planning 
Commission,  (4):  1 1 
National  Horticultural  Journal,  (4): 
19 

"Native  Plant  Societies  in  the 
United  States,"  (2):  25-26 
Nee,  Luis,  (3):  18,  19 
Nevada,  (4):  17 

New  England  Wild  Flower  Society, 
(2):  inside  front  cover,  16,  22,  25 
New  Granada  (Colombia),  (3):  14,  15, 
17 

New  Mexico,  (4):  14,  19 
New  Spain  (Mexico),  (3):  4,  14 
New  York  Botanical  Garden,  (2): 
back  cover 

New  York  Herald  Tribune,  (4):  13 
New  York  Times,  (4):  13 
Nicholson,  Robert  G.,  (2):  1 

"Eight  Views  of  Nippon," 

(2):  2-15 

photographs  by,  (2):  1,  2,  4— 

8,  10-14 

Nihei,  Takeo,  (2):  34 
Nolia  longifolia,  (3):  37,  38 
Nootka  Sound,  (3):  18 
North  Carolina  Department  of 
Agriculture,  (2):  21 
North  Carolina  Botanical  Garden, 

(2):  21 

oak,  white,  (2):  27 
Ocmulgee  River  (Georgia),  (4):  4 
Okayama,  Lord  of,  (2):  12,  13,  13 
Oklahoma,  (4):  19 
Olmsted,  Frederick  Law,  (3):  11 
Omei,  Mount  (China),  (3):  32,  33 
Oncidium  spp.,  (4):  32 
orchid,  (4):  32,  33 

lady's-slipper,  (2):  23 

Ortega,  Jose,  (3):  5,  6,  7,  8,  9 
Oxytropis  rishiriensis,  (2):  8 
Oyster  Bay,  Long  Island  (New  York), 

(4) :  10,  16 

Pabellon  Villanueva  (Madrid 
Botanical  Garden),  (3):  28,  29 
Padua  Botanic  Garden,  (3):  8 
Palace  of  Ajuda  (Lisbon),  (3):  37 
Palace  of  Belem  (Lisbon),  (3):  37 


Index  39 


Palma-Christi,  (4):  28 
Pampanini,  Renato,  (4):  13 
Pancratium,  (4):  31 
Paseo  del  Prado  (Madrid),  (3):  5,  6, 

10,  23 

Patterson,  C.  J.,  review  by,  (1):  30-32 
Pavon  y Jimenez,  Jose  Antonio,  (3): 
15,  16,  19 

Pecos  Canyon  (New  Mexico),  (4):  14 
Pediocactus  spp.,  (2):  20 

peeblesianus  var.  peebles- 

ianus 

Pennsylvania  Horticultural  Society, 
(4):  14 

Perenyi,  Eleanor,  mentioned,  (3):  3 
Peru,  (3):  7,  12,  13,  14,  15,  18 
Phaius  grandifoUus,  (4):  32 
Phellodendron  amuiense,  (2):  7 
Philip  II  (Felipe  II)  (King  of  Spain), 

(3):  4 

Philodendron,  (2):  27 
Phlox  divaricata,  (2):  28 

stolonifera,  (2):  28 

Phyllodoce  aleutica,  (2):  5 
Phytophthora,  (4):  7 
Picea,  (2):  7 

glehnii,  (2):  7 

jezoensis,  (2):  5,  7 

koyama,  (2):  14 

maximowiczii,  (2):  14 

pine,  Japanese  stone,  (2):  5,  7,  7 
Pineda  y Ramirez,  Antonio,  (3):  19 
Pinella,  (2):  34 

ternata,  (2):  34 

tripartita,  (2):  34 

Pinus  ayacahuite,  (2):  15 

parviflora,  (2):  11 

pentaphylla,  (2):  12 

pumila,  5,  7,  7,  14,  14 

'Dwarf  Blue',  (2):  8 

Sasa  zone  (2):  8 

thunbergiana,  (2):  4,  10 

Pittosporum  tobira,  (3):  36 

undulatum,  (3):  36 

Plantse  Aiquinoctiales , by  Alexander 
von  Humboldt  and  Aime 
Bonpland  (1808),  (3):  16,  17 
Plantas  de  Nueva  Espaha,  (3):  18 
Plumbago  capensis,  (4):  31 
Pombal,  Marques  de,  (3):  inside  front 
cover,  31,  37 

monument  to,  (3):  30 

Portola  (California),  (4):  17 
Potrero  de  Atlampa  (Mexico),  (3):  16 
Prado  Art  Museum,  (3):  6,  10 
Pratt,  the  Misses,  (4):  33 
Prenanthes  boottii,  (4):  29 
Primula  sieboldii,  (2):  30 
Prunus  subhirtella  'Pendula',  (3):  40 
Puerta  del  Rey,  La  (Madrid  Botanical 
Garden),  (3):  12,  23,  25 


Puye  (New  Mexico),  (4):  14 
Quer  y Martinez,  Jose,  (3):  4,  5.  5,  6, 

7 

death  of,  (3):  9 

Quercus  alba,  (2):  27 
Quinta  de  Don  Lazaro  (Lisbon),  (3): 
32 

Raisz,  Erwin,  (4):  21 
Rand,  Edward  S.,  Jr.,  (4):  32 
Real  Expedicion  al  Nuevo  Reino  de 
Granada,  (3):  15 

Real  Jardin  Botanico  de  Mexico,  (3): 

16 

Real  Jardin  Botanico  de  Madrid,  (3): 
2-29,  2,  12,  23,  25-29 

plans  of,  (3):  11,  25,  27 

view  of  in  summer,  (3):  2 

Real  Jardin  Botanico  del  Soto  de 
Migas  Calientes,  (3):  5 
Rebun  Island  (Japan),  (2):  6-8 
Redouts,  Pierre  Joseph,  (4):  28 
redwood,  coast,  (3):  19,  21,  inside 
back  cover 

Rehder,  Alfred,  (4):  13,  16 

photographs  by,  (1):  4,  10 

Reno  (Nevada),  (4):  16,  17 
Repton,  Humphry,  (2):  10;  (4):  26 
"Research  Report,"  (column),  (1): 
14-19 

Rhododendron  sp.,  (2):  12 

spp.,  (4):  6 

aureum,  (2):  5 

camtschaticum,  (2):  8 

chapmanii,  (2):  20,  22 

japonicum,  (2):  14 

metternichii,  (2):  14 

vaseyi,  (4):  3 

rhododendron,  Chapman's,  (2):  20, 

22 

Rhodora  (journal),  (4):  13,  21 
Ricinus  communis,  (4):  28 
Rikugi-en  (Tokyo),  (2):  3-4,  4 
Rishiri  Island  (Japan),  (2):  6-8,  6,  7 
Ritsurin  Garden  (Japan),  (2):  9-11,  10 
Robinia  pseudoacacia,  (3):  7 
Rock,  Joseph  F.  C.,  (4):  17 
Rogers,  Dr.  George,  (4):  4 
Roosevelt,  Franklin  Delano,  (4):  9, 

11,  19 

Rosa  spinosissima,  (4):  28 
Rosamond  (ship),  (4):  24 
Royal  Botanic  Garden  (Edinburgh), 
(3):  12 

(Kew),  (4):  30,  32 

Royal  Botanical  Garden  (Madrid),  (3): 
2-29,  2,  12,  23,  25-29 

plans  of,  (3):  11,  25,  27 

view  of  in  summer,  (3): 

2 

Royal  Garden  of  Ajuda  (Lisbon),  plan 
of,  (3):  33 


Royal  Gate  (Madrid  Botanical 
Garden),  (3):  23 

Royal  Scientific  Expedition  to  New 
Spain,  (3):  16 

Ruiz  and  Pavon  Expedition,  (3):  13, 
14,  15 

Ruiz  and  Pavon  Pavilion  (Madrid 
Botanical  Garden),  (3):  23 
Ruiz  Lopez,  Hipolito,  (3):  15,  16,  19 
Royan-ji  Temple  Garden  (Japan),  (2): 
8-9,  8 

Sabatini,  Francisco,  (3):  10 
saguaro,  (2):  24 
Saguaro  National  Monument 
(Arizona),  (2):  24 

Sakhalin  Island  (U.S.S.R.),  (2):  6,  7 
Salazar  Bridge  (Lisbon),  (3):  37 
Salix  sp.,  (2):  8 

Salvador  family  (Barcelona),  (3):  6 
San  Francisco  Mountains  (Arizona), 
(4):  15 

Sanguinea  canadensis,  (2):  27 
Santa  Cruz,  California,  (3):  21 
Santamour,  Dr.  Frank  S.,  (4):  5,  7 
Santos,  F.  (sculptor),  (3):  31 
Sapporo  Botanical  Garden  (Japan), 
(2):  4-5,  6 

Sara  Gildersleeve  Fife  Memorial 
Award  (New  York  Botanical 
Garden),  (4):  21 

Sargent,  Charles  Sprague,  (4):  9,  11, 
12,  13,  21 
Sasa  sp.,  (2):  7 

kurilensis,  (2):  7 

Sax,  Karl,  (4):  18-19,  21 
Schaffer  Memorial  Medal  (Pennsyl- 
vania Horticultural  Society),  (4): 
14 

Schneider,  Camillo  K.,  (4):  13 
Schofield,  Edmund  A.,  "A  Life 
Redeemed:  Susan  Delano 
McKelvey  and  the  Arnold 
Arboretum,"  (4):  9-23 
Schotia  afra,  (3):  38 
Scientific  Monthly,  (4):  13 
Sedum  cauticolum,  (2):  8 
Sequoia  sempervirens,  (3):  19,  21, 
inside  back  cover 
Sesse  and  Mocirio  Expedition,  (3): 
16,  18 

Sesse  y Lacasta,  Martin  de,  (3):  16 
shakkei,  (2)  1 1 
shield  fern,  Boott's,  (4):  30 
Shikoku  (Japan),  (2):  9,  10,  12,  30,  31 
Shiun,  Mount  (Japan),  (2):  1 1 
Shortia  sp.,  (2):  14 

soldo nelloides,  (2):  14 

Sierra  Nevada,  (4):  17 

Silva  Delgado,  Leandro,  (3):  22,  23 

watercolor  by,  (3):  27 

Silva  of  North  America,  The,  (1):  3; 


40  Index 


(3):  1 

Simancas,  Archivo  General  de,  (3):  9 
Six  Month  Residence  and  Travels  in 
Mexico,  by  W.  Bullock  (1824),  (3): 
16 

Skimmia  japonica  var.  repens,  (2):  7 
skunk  cabbage,  (2):  28 
Smith,  E.  LaVeme,  photograph  by, 
(2):  22 

Smithsonian  Institution,  (4):  1 1 
smooth  winterberry,  (1):  10 
snow  rice-cake  plant,  (2):  30 
Sociedad  de  Historia  Natural  de 
Mexico,  (3):  18 
Sophora  japonica,  (3):  38 
Sorbus  matsumarae,  (2):  5 
Soto  de  Migas  Calientes,  El  (Madrid), 
(3):  5,  7-8 

Spanish  Civil  War,  (3):  22 
Spanish  Scientists  in  the  New 
World,  by  Iris  H.  W.  Engstrand, 

(3) :  18 

Steele,  Arthur  Robert,  Flowers  for 
the  King,  mentioned,  (3):  15 

quoted,  (3):  4,  6 

mentioned,  (3):  22 

"Stone  Field  Sculpture,"  by  Carl 
Andre,  (2):  9 

Storer,  Susan,  "Cultivating  Native 
Plants:  The  Possibilities,"  (2):  16— 
19 

Strelitzia  regime,  (3):  38 
Stuart,  Gilbert,  (4):  27 
Sturtevant,  Grace,  (4):  14,  15 
Sunflower  Mine  (Arizona),  (4):  15 
Suriol,  Jose,  (3):  5,  7 
Sung  Period  (China),  (2):  9 
Susanville  (California),  (4):  17 
Symplocarpus,  (2):  27 

fcetidus,  (2):  27,  28 

Syosset  (New  York),  (4):  10 
Syringa,  (4):  13 

rugulosa,  (4):  13 

Tagus  River  (Portugal),  (3):  31,  37 
Tahoe,  Lake  (Califomia-Nevada), 

(4) :  17 

Takamatsu  (Japan),  (2):  9,  10,  11 
tapada,  (3):  32,  35 
Tapada  da  Ajuda,  (3):  30-38,  inside 
front  cover,  back  cover 
"'Tapada  da  Ajuda,'  Portugal's  First 


Botanical  Garden,  The,"  Antonio 
de  Almeida  Monteiro  and  Jules 
Janick,  (3):  30-38 
Tapada  das  Necessidades,  (3):  32 
taro,  (2):  27 

Taxodium  sempervirens,  (3):  21 
Technical  University  of  Lisbon,  (3): 
38 

Tejo,  Rio  (Portugal),  (3):  31 
Tenerife,  (3):  13 
Teune,  Carla,  (2):  32,  33 
Texas,  (4):  19 

"The  Madrid  Botanical  Garden 
Today:  A Brief  Photographic 
Portfolio,"  Ricardo  R.  Austrich 
and  J.  Walter  Brain,  (3):  25-29 
Thujopsis  dolobrata,  (2):  14 
Tizon,  Ventura  Rodriguez,  (3):  7 
Tokushima  (Japan),  (2):  11 
Torreya  nucifera,  (2):  13 
Toumefort,  (3):  4,  6 
Toumefortian  nomenclature,  (3):  7, 

8 

Trelease,  William,  (4):  16,  17 
Trillium,  large-flowering,  (2):  inside 
front  cover 

showy,  (2):  inside  front  cover 

Trillium,  (2):  27 

grandiflorum,  (2):  inside  front 

cover 

Tripetaleia  bracteata,  (2):  5 
Tropaeolum  majus,  (3):  7,  9 
Truman,  President,  (4):  10 
Tsuga  sp.,  (2):  11 

diversifolia,  (2):  12,  14 

sieboldii,  (2):  12 

Tsujii,  Tatsuichi,  (2):  4—5 
Tsunamasa,  Ikeda,  (2):  13,  13 
Tsurugi,  Mount,  (2):  11-12,  11 
Tucson  Mountains  (Arizona),  (4):  15 
Twenty-first  of  April  Bridge  (Lisbon), 
(3):  37 

Ulmus  davidiana  var.  japonica,  (2): 

7 

United  States  Fish  and  Wildlife 
Service,  (2):  20,  21,  23;  (4):  4 
Urashima,  Taro,  (2):  30 
urashima-so,  (2):  30 
Utah,  (4):  19 
Vaccinium  sp.,  (2):  14 
spp.,  (2):  14 


vitis-idaea,  (2):  7 

Valdes,  Gonzalo  Fernandez  de 
Oviedo  y,  (3):  4 
"Vale,"  "The,"  (4):  26,  28,  29 
Valencia,  (3):  13 

University  of,  (3):  19 

Vancouver  Expedition,  (3):  21 

landfalls  (map),  (3):  20 

Vandelli,  Domingos  (Domenico),  (3): 
31,  37 

Velez,  Cristobal,  (3):  6 
Venus's-flytrap,  (2):  21,  21 
Viburnum  tinus,  (3):  22 
Waki  (Japan),  (2):  11 
Wakkanai  (Japan),  (2):  6 
Wall  Ricardo,  (3):  5 
Wallace,  Alfred  Russel,  (4):  12 
Warren,  Richard,  book  review  by, 

(1):  27-29 

Washington,  Mount  (New  Hamp- 
shire), (4):  29 

Weeks,  Edward,  (4):  20,  22 
Welwitsch,  Friedrich  Martin  Josef, 

(3) :  37 

White  Mountains  (New  Hampshire), 

(4) :  12 

Whitehill,  Walter  Muir,  (4):  21,  22 
Wilder,  Marshall  P.,  (4):  31,  32 
Wilson,  Ernest  H.,  (2):  5,  7,  14;  (4): 

13,  18 

photograph  by,  (2):  inside 

back  cover 

Wilton,  Connecticut,  (2):  27,  29 
Winterberry,  smooth,  (1):  10 
witch  hazel,  Chinese,  (2):  17 
Writers  and  Friends,  by  Edward 
Weeks,  (4):  20,  22 

Wyman,  Donald,  photograph  by,  (1): 
back  cover 

Xanthosoma  spp.,  (2):  27 
Yatsugadake,  Mount,  (2):  14,  14 
yatsuhashi,  (2):  13 
yautia,  (2):  27 

Yoshino  River  (Japan),  (2):  11 
Yoshiyasu,  Yanagisawa,  (2):  4 
Yucca,  (4):  14,  19 

Yuccas  of  the  Southwestern  United 
States,  (4):  19 
yuki-mochi-so,  (2):  30 
Yukon,  (4):  12 
Yunnan  (China),  (2):  30 


CORRECTION 

In  the  article  on  the  Jardim  Botinico  da 
Ajuda  ( Arnoldia , volume  47,  number  3, 
pages  30-38),  one  of  the  authors's  names 
was  misspelled.  The  correct  spelling  is 
Antonio  de  Almeida  Monteiro. 


3 775  OU 


KIRK  BOOTT
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